Ultimate Secret Wars
by Fernando VII
Summary: The Ultimate universe was destroyed in 2015, when an Incursion with Earth-616 destroyed both ones. Parts of the Multiverse were saved in Battleworld, and eventually Earth-616 was restored. But... what if the Ultimate heroes knew of the upcoming doom in advance? Can Miles Morales, Nick Fury, the FF, the All-New Ultimates and the X-Men save their world from destruction?
1. Prologue

Figure in shadows: Repeat what you have just said.

Nick Fury: As I said, I am rebuilding SHIELD, and…

Figure in shadows: No. Not that. The other part.

Nick Fury: I have recruited Reed Richards and asked him to plan defenses for doomsday scenarios.

Figure in shadows: You are aware of the risks.

Nick Fury: Yes, I know. But we can not let something like that Galactus attack us again.

Figure in shadows: The Maker will do that himself. You can't trust him.

Nick Fury: I KNOW! OF COURSE I KNOW, DAMMIT! BUT I HAVE NO OTHER OPTION! This escalation of conflicts will destroy us if we do not get prepared. It was so easy, back in the Cold War: the commies developed weapons and bombs, so we developed bigger weapons and bombs. Since 2000 things took a step up: crime became super crime, vigilantism became super vigilantism, terrorism became super terrorism… so we created the Ultimates to counter that. And now, things are taking yet another step up: super villains are now becoming cosmic villains, but we don't have a big supply of cosmic heroes to count with. There's nothing on Earth who can fight someone like that Galactus, power to power. Richards and his inventions are just the only solution I could come up with. He's, after all, the one who managed to drive him away. And I don't forget that he's also the one who made the weapon that drove away the Gah Lak Tus swarm.

Figure in shadows: But he also destroyed Berlin and blew up Washington DC. Never forget that. He will play along as long as it serves his interests, and then he will betray you.

Nick Fury: I'm well aware of that. And that's where _you_ come in.

Figure in shadows: Me?

Nick Fury: Reed Richards is smarter than me. He's smarter than anyone in the planet. He may prepare a trap right in front of my eyes, and I may not notice it. I know my limitations. But you… you may not be as smart as he is, but you are really smart on your own right. And you know him. If he's up to something, you can notice that. So the Maker reports to me, surely thinking that he can outsmart me, but it will be you who will actually check his work. If his work is legit, even if he's just "playing along" by now, we'll take it. But if it isn't, you will report me that.

Figure in shadows: I accept, but not to that last part. If you want me for this, it'll be on my terms. When the Maker betray us… because he WILL betray us… I will deal with him myself. With extreme prejudice. And I won't be bothered by authorization requests, red tape, classified information or any of the usual S.H.I.E.L.D. traditions.

Nick Fury: Very well. If you find that the Maker is up to something, you'll have green light to do with him what you must. Just have the courtesy of informing me about that, just in case you fail and we need to continue the fight.

Sue Storm (emerging from the shadows): Very well, Nick Fury. We have a deal.


	2. Last days ofthe Ultimate Marvel Universe

_Don't dance in darkness, you may stumble there and you're sure to fall_

_Don't write in starlight, 'cause the words may come out real_

_Don't talk to strangers, 'cause they're only there to do you harm_

_Don't dream of women, 'cause they'll only bring you down_

Ronnie James Dio - "Don't talk to strangers"

**Now**

"I want him to know, really know, that it's over. To fully realize there's no forgiveness for what he's done. That there is a price and he's finally going to pay it. That there's no mercy for men like him, and even if there is, he doesn't get any. I want him to know this is how it ends. And more than that… I want him to know… it was me"

**Some weeks ago**

At the FF headquarters  
Sam: Richards has saluted Fury. He's about to leave the building.  
Sue: Keep him watched. Have the special camera take all possible readings.  
Tony: He's casually walking away and... disappears? Sam, is he somehow disrupting the video signal?  
Sam: No. Heat, movement, sound, everything matches: he was there, now he isn't.

Tony: Perhaps he's so smart that he can send us false readings to all those systems

Sam: But why? And why bother letting us sense him in the first place? Besides, even if he was there and we couldn't detect him, the air currents would go around him, but they move undisturbed. No, things are exactly what they seem to be: he's not there anymore.  
Sue: Hmm. Can you detect a small trail of ion particles in the area?  
Sam: Yes, there it is. What does that mean?

Sue: It means that he has perfected the device that we have first worked with, which was meant for instant teleportation. It failed back then, but clearly he has finished one now.

Tony: You mean, the one that malfunctioned because Victor messed with the configuration, and made you five get superpowers instead?

Victor: Shut up, you fool! Richards had all his equations wrong! So wrong, that not even one with a keen intellect like mine could fix them in time!

Tony: Sure, mr. perfection, you can't accept that you made a mistake even if it blows up on your face! I'm sure that…!

Sue: Enough, you two! Whatever happened back then, it happened, it is pointless to discuss it now. The important thing is that, although the Maker eluded us, now we know what to seek. I can configure the readings of this ion particles when they are generated, and next time we will have a clear idea of where did he teleported himself to.

The next day

Sam: There. Richards is leaving the building.

Sue: Let's see. Yes, he's being teleported. And… got it. Hm, he has teleported miles below Manhattan. It seems that he must have a headquarters below there. Of course, we can't get to him directly.

Sam: We would also need evidence that he's up to something. A hidden headquarters sounds suspicious, yes, but is not enough to conclude anything.

Victor: It would be unwise to try to spy him inside this secret location. He will probably have ways to detect such intrusion, he would notice that we are spying him, and we would lose the advantage of surprise.

Tony: And why do you suspect that?

Victor: Because I would do that.

Sam: Wait a moment, I have new readings. He's teleporting again.

Sue: Back to Fury?

Sam: No. He's teleporting to… wait a minute… he's in the Gobi desert, in southern Mongolia.

Tony: What? What is he doing there?

Sam: Whatever it is, even if well intentioned, he's too close to the Chinese border.

Sue: Activate the spy drone we have in the area, and send it to the vicinity of the Maker. Not too close, just enough to check what is he up to.

The camera flew to the location of the Maker, and the FF watched it on their screens. They were surprised when the area got a sudden red tone. But, more than the Maker, they were surprised by what they saw in the sky.

\- I'm not sure I understand what I see - said Tony Stark. - Is he making an holographic image of earth in the sky? What for? And why is everything red?

\- What is the Maker up to here? - mussed Sue Storm, checking the data and trying to figure things out.

\- It doesn't seem to be just an image - reported Sam. - Weird as it sounds, all the readings suggest that there is an actual planet out there.

\- But where did it come from? - asked Doom. - A celestial body of this size wouldn't get so close to the planet before being detected. There would be a worldwide emergency right now.

\- That's right! Why there isn't any? - Tony Stark suddenly found himself agreeing with Doom, but ignored the snarks about that that he briefly thought. - Shouldn't everyone be seeing this right now? Shouldn't we have all sorts of warnings and people calling for aid? Even if this planet was teleported here, we wouldn't be the only ones seeing it. Perhaps…

He could not continue. The Maker fired a weapon against the planet, which was blown to pieces. They saw a once full planet turn into fragments… and, suddenly, before those fragments fell to the ground, it ended. The red tone of the air was gone, and the sky was showing an all too normal shiny day.

\- What has happened here? - shouted Sue Storm. - What have we saw? What did happen?

\- Awe-inspiring… humbling… feats dwarfing the wildest imaginations of the gods! - Doom could not believe what he saw

\- That was, indeed, a planet - replied Sam, checking data in his computer. - And yes, it had many similarities with Earth. Not just visual appearance: atmosphere, big oceans, one satellite, oblate spheroid shape, size, rotation speed, gravitational field, and some readings suggest a biosphere. But the continents were not quite the same as ours. The distance between their South America and Africa was way larger, we would need a million years for the plate tectonics to achieve that.

There's more - added Doom. - That world had a portion well-lit and another in shadows, but that was not consistent with the direction sunlight was coming at that moment. Something else, not our sun, was casting light on that planet.

\- And to add more confusion, I was right before. - said Stark, visibly confused. - I have checked some major news sources, and they are still talking about the usual things. Alabama strikes down the state-ban on same-sex marriage, Obama's State of the Union address, controversy over the lethal injection protocols in Oklahoma… nothing about another earth suddenly showing up, blowing up and the disappearing. That would take over the headlines for weeks. It is as if only us, and the Maker, knew about it. And if we weren't following him, not even us would have suspected. And of course, not even SHIELD in its heyday could have kept something like this under wraps.

\- In any case, it's all speculation - pointed Doom. - We do not have enough data to figure out the full details, or to stop Richards from whatever he's planning.

\- But are we sure we have to stop him? - Sam tried to keep himself open to all possibilities. - We don't know if he caused this, or if he merely reacted to it. And yes, blowing up a planet seems terrible, but let me remind you that if a planet of the same size as hours got so close, there was no other possible action. Even if it stayed there and did not crash with us, the gravitational field would derail us from the orbit around the sun.

It's possible - Sue accepted that Sam may be right. - But if that's the case, he can't be the only one who knows about this. We'll keep an eye on him, and as soon as he teleports to some strange place, we'll follow and take action.

The Maker teleported himself back to his base, and for some days the FF stayed in the dark about the events that transpired. Finally, the alarm sounded: he had left the base. He was talking with Nick Fury again. As he was in Fury's new headquarters, they saw and hear their whole conversation. Nick Fury was explaining him that he was rebuilding S.H.I.E.L.D., and the need for contingency plans for doomsday scenarios. Nothing new. Of course, the Maker did not mention at all the incident of the other earth. And then he left, again to his base. Two days later, he left it again. According to the readings he went to a forest in the northern Patagonia, in Argentina. Again a strange location, so the FF got in their ship to try to get him and intervene in whatever he was doing. They had another camera monitoring him in advance. And then, a new earth shows up in the sky. Only in there. And the air, that had a red color before, now was blue. But, before even the Maker could do anything, it ended. He did not fire anything to the planet, he could not even touch his machines, the planet simply exploded a few moments after showing up. And more, a group of people fell from the other planet as it was exploding. So the FF halted their ship and tried to figure out those new events. One of the new visitors simply stood up, as if the fall had been just a mere inconvenience, and said "soon, my sweet mistress. But not yet." Stark was the first one to talk.

\- Well, well, that is surely a group of super villains, or a group of really ugly people. Except for that white broad, grrr. Anyone of them ring any bells?

\- The one to the right, he surely looks like Namor. He does not have the same clothes, but he has pointy ears, wings in his feet and a similar arrogant gesture. Of course, we all know that Namor is dead- pointed Doom. - And the one with the curly hair seems to be one of the Inhumans I met in that zombie dimension, but of course not a zombie.

\- In any case, this seems to confirm that we are dealing with alternate universes here. Those earths are from other universes, and for some reason both ones become visible to the other. Those people moved here from there, so it stands to reason that they could see our planet just as we saw theirs. Don't you agree… -Sam turned to ask input from the Invisible Woman, but he was surprised when she saw her pale and in shock. - Sue! What's happening? You seem like you saw a ghost!

\- That one… the purple one… that's Thanos! Thanos! - was her shocked answer.

\- Thanos… - said Sam, as if remembering something

\- Thanos? What's a "Thanos"? - asked Stark - What do you mean?

\- That's Thanos, the king of Acheron! Or an alternate version of him, perhaps, but that's a face I will never forget! He's a galactic dictator, he once influenced Reed to create the Cosmic Cube to get infinite power, he used it to destroy earth, and intended to do the same all over the galaxy!

\- Are you sure about that? - asked Stark. - I mean, I think I would remember it if our planet was destroyed.

\- You don't remember it, -Sue slowly came back to her senses - because we managed to get the Cosmic Cube from him, kill him and roll everything back to normal. We erased earth's destruction from history.

\- I see. There was a form of ontological inertia then, allowing you four, and only you, to remember things from a timeline that you erased. - pointed Sam. - In any case, it's safe to assume that this isn't the same Thanos, but a Thanos from another universe. In any case, it's bad news. Tackling the Maker alone was one thing, but now that he's with this Thanos and those other people, they may outgun us. We need some plan.

\- Do you know something about this Thanos? - asked Doom. -The way you said his name earlier, it seemed that this isn't the first time you heard it.

\- Nothing relevant at this point - dismissed Sam. - But what are they up to? Their Namor has some numbers floating over his hand, and they seem to be giving some instructions to the Maker. Wait, he's materializing something… a bomb! According to the readings, that bomb has enough power to blow the whole planet!

\- Wait a moment- said Stark, -there is another earth in the sky, again! And those people… are leaving? With the bomb? And the Maker is staying behind?

\- That's our chance! - Sue finally found the right moment to take action. - We have to go, stop the Maker, prevent him from setting off that bomb, and cut him off from his newfound allies!

The ship landed and the team approached the Maker, with Sue keeping them invisible. When they were close enough, she dropped the invisibility and shouted "Maker!". He turned, completely surprised. "Sue? What are you…?". They did not took any chances. Sue attacked with her forcefields, Sam with his machine guns, Iron Man with his missiles, and Doom with his bazooka. Their combined firepower took the Maker down, but also destroyed his machines. The bomb blew up on the other planet, and the portal closed. Nobody returned from it.

The Maker woke up some minutes later, and found himself trapped inside one of Sue's forcefields. "You should have killed me while you had the chance", he said.

\- My sentiments exactly- replied Doom to his old enemy. - That's exactly what I have told them, that we should not take any risks and kill you while you were down. But Dr. Storm refused. She said that she had two reasons to wait for you to wake up, and considered that you wouldn't be able to escape from her forcefield anyway.

\- You are alive, Maker, because I want to know why are you doing this. - said Sue with a harsh and severe tone of voice. - When you visited that other world, during Galactus' attack, you saw that our alternate selves got married and had a daughter. You claimed that it changed your perspectives, and tried to atone for your crimes since then. But now, we have been following you, and we found this. You are destroying worlds in secrecy! You allied yourself with an alternate Thanos, and gave him a bomb to destroy yet another world!

\- What do you mean, that _I_ destroyed that world? It was you! - replied the Maker with his sarcastic voice. -With your ill-conceived attack, you destroyed my machines and the bomb exploded earlier! Those deaths are your fault!

\- Don't try to play games here.- Sue did not buy his manipulation for a second.- It was you who made that bomb and send it there. So what if we had not been here? You would have detonated it all the same, just a minute later perhaps. No, you are still alive because I want to know why. I need to hear the reason for all this.

\- Because I dream a millenium into the future, and wake up to this reality. I am not an idea that can be erased on a whim. I changed… and there is no going back...

\- Save the poetry for the birds, Maker! - interrupted Sue. -I want the truth, the real truth!

\- The truth? You can't _handle_ the truth! Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Tony Stark? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom…

\- Please, Reed. - Stark calmy interrupted him. Doing a Jack Nicholson impression is below you.

\- Yes, you're right Stark.- he replied. - I think I simply couldn't resist it. Very well, the truth. Yes, when I saw the photo of that other Richards and his family, I questioned my own actions, and sincerely tried to atone for my crimes and make amends with you. I opened my heart, I declared my love and… what did you do? You tried to cut my stones! Just because the pig of destiny said so!

\- What? - Sue had her eyes wide open, unable to believe it. -You have been destroying world after world… because of that?

\- I don't expect you to understand it. - replied the Maker in disdain. - I may be the most intelligent man that ever walked the earth, but still, I'm a man. You are not. And there's nothing more sacred for a man than his… personal parts. But don't take my word for it: you have three other men with you. What do you say, guys? Can you swear that you wouldn't become the most terrible villains if someone cutted your stones?

\- Don't be absurd!- yelled Sue. -Do not compare yourself with them! They are heroes! Even Doom! They wouldn't… - and she turned, expecting support, but they were all embarrassed and looking guilty.

\- Well, if you put things in those terms…

\- He may have a point there, y'know…

\- I refuse to lower myself to this discussion. - Doom soon recovered his arrogant stance. - It is true that I do not have a reproductive system since my body mutated to its current state, but given my reputation, I'm sure that Richards would try to use me to justify his pathetic point.

\- AAAARRGGHHHH! MEN! Men you had to be! I hate you! I hate you all!

\- Dr. Storm, remember that you insisted that you wanted to know. You wanted to hear why, now you had heard it. - pointed Doom, without losing his cool. - We should proceed.

\- Ah, yes. You mentioned that you had two reasons for waiting me to wake up. Which is the second reason, then? - asked the Maker, again with his sarcastic tone. Sue recovered then the harsh and severe tone.

\- You are alive, to know that everything is over. There is no forgiveness, escape or redemption for you. You will pay the price for everything you have done. I wanted you awake to know that you were about to die, and I wanted you to know that it was me who killed you. - the Maker simply started to laugh.

\- Ha, ha, ha! Nice speech! But how do you expect to kill me, exactly? Your forcefields are useless against me! You may contain me, but what then? Crushing me won't do me any harm, and you can't suffocate me because I don't breathe. And you can't pierce me either… now that I think of it, my stones were quite safe from you!

\- That may be true, if I was just a mere housewife with superpowers. - replied Sue with a slasher smile. - But I'm a great scientist, remember? I can shape the forcefield into a circular tunnel, like a small version of the Large Hadron Collider, and use an extra forcefield inside to push you in it. My forcefields do not generate friction, so they can accelerate the speed without limit. But your body… yes, it can surely resist the friction of the air better than most other substances, but at one moment it will move so quick that it will disintegrate, like any small object would do during atmospheric entry. I don't know which is that speed, but we will find out together.

\- Very well, - said the Maker, after being speechless for some moments.- If I have to go, I guess that this way is fitting, and may work. Can I say some last words? - Sue made him a gesture, and he proceed.

\- This is not over. According to my calculations, there are only two alternate universes left. Our own one, and the universe of the adult Peter Parker and those uses that are happily married. The incursion will take place in, roughly, a week, in New York. The only way this universe can survive is by destroying the other. There is no other way. I am the most intelligent human that ever lived and could not find another way, do you think you will? You claim to have the moral high ground, but I would like to see how do you get out of this mess and keep your precious principles intact.

\- Duly noted.

\- Goodbye, Sue.

\- Goodbye, Reed.

And then it started. At first, it was clear that Sue was moving the maker inside the invisible circular tunnel. Then it started moving faster than the naked eye could follow. Then it was moving so quickly that it turned into a complete ring of color. And then it started to vanish, and finally nothing remained. Sue fell to her knees. Sam approached her.

\- Don't worry, Sue. At last, it is over.

\- No! It isn't! Haven't you heard? There is another incursion coming! This is bigger than us, this is not something we can handle alone. We need Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. We need Spider-Man, the new Ultimates, the remaining X-Men. All those who are still around. We have to assemble them all.

_What's hell without a paradise_

_What's the night without a day_

_We would think it's bright_

_What's a fall if we can't rise_

_What's a hero at a play_

_Without a fool to fight_

_We live to fight the hand of doom_

_We got the pride to strike a fool_

_Vain glory be my wicked guide_

_We live to fight the hand of doom_

_We got the pride to strike a fool_

_Vain glory be my wicked guide_

Edguy - "Vain Glory Opera"


	3. Countdown to Ultimate Extinction

_Silent screaming, you're on your own_

_Balancing on a blade between what's right and what is wrong_

_Don't loose your faith, don't sit there in silence_

_Show your strength, let's hail the metal Gods,_

_Bare your heart_

_All for one, our burning hearts will live forever_

_One for all, together standing strong_

_Hammerfall - we will prevail_

_Hammerfall - let us hail_

_Hammerfall - we will prevail_

_Hammerfall - let us hail_

Hammerfall - "Hammerfall"

Nick Fury: Everything dies. Citizens. Politicians. Superheroes. Supervillains. Presidents. Countries. Civilization itself. Everything we know, will last for only a time, and will go back to its primordial aspect. From ashes to ashes, from dust to dust. This is simply how things are. What I will not tolerate, what I find unacceptable, is the unnatural acceleration of that end. Which is why Dr. Storm summoned us here. But before we get started, let me introduce everyone. I'm sure that most of you have already met in those years, but just in case, let's say who is who. Those are the Future Foundation, Dr. Susan Storm, Tony Stark, Sam Wilson and Victor Van Damme. Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm, former members of the Fantastic Four. Hawkeye, former member of the Ultimates. The new Ultimates: Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Cloak, Dagger and Bombshell. Kitty Pryde is both with them and the X-Men from Utopia. Those are Jean Grey, Colossus, Rogue, Jimmy Hudson and Storm.

Miles Morales: (Peter should be here. But he wanted to retire and stay hidden with Mary Jane, and trusted me not to out him. I hope we can deal with this without his help)

Sue Storm: As you have all been informed, we had been following the Maker, and discovered that he was destroying alternate earths for a reason. I killed him when we captured him, for this and his previous actions. Then we entered to his secret headquarters, and discovered that he had rebuild the City and the A.I. that controlled it. This A.I. had already sensed the death of the Maker, and appointed me as the Maker II.

Ben Grimm: What? And didn't it try to kill you, or something?

Sue Storm: Not, it is quite a pragmatic A.I. It had nothing to gain from revenge, and its priority is its own survival and of those experiments that the Maker was doing. Appointing me as its new protector was its best way to achieve that. As long as it can go on with its researchs, it won't be an obstacle to us; remember that it already betrayed the Maker once when his extremism became a drawback for it. But let's stay focused: the A.I. gave us the intelligence about this phenomenon that the Maker has been collecting so far. He named those events as "Incursions". First, there is a very short period of harmonic alignment, which is what allows the two earths from alternate dimensions to exist in the same space. They are not visible worldwide, there is only an area, an "incursion point", were this phenomenon can be seen. Once the incursion actually begins, it lasts exactly 8 hours. At the end of those 8 hours, what follows is extremely simple. Either both worlds are destroyed, along with their respective universes, as they smash together; or one earth is destroyed, which eliminates the incursion point between the two universes, sparing them both. Eight hours. One event. Two possible outcomes.

Nick Fury: Very well. Let's be clear on something. This is a clear and textbook example of a "us or them" scenario. I understand the Maker's procedure, because some years ago I would have done exactly the same. Torn between our world and others, I would have blown them all to kingdom come to protect ours. From a military point of view, I still have to keep all the options on the table. But what would Peter Parker do? He would stand up right now and interrupt me before I could continue. He would ask if we are out of our minds. He would say that this is insanity. He would insist that we find a way to save both worlds, and I would have grumpily accepted to do so. Well, Parker is no longer with us, but his moral compass should remain as our legacy. So please stand up a moment, and let's join our hands for an oath. I want you all to swear that we'll do what he would have told us to do, that we will find a way to save both earths, and that you won't entertain any talk of the necessity of necessary evil. Are you in?

Everybody, with their hands stacked: FOR PETER!

Hawkeye: Well said, boss. Now, let's get down to business.

Bombshell: Shouldn't we give a name to that other earth? So that it is easier to talk about them?

Nick Fury: Very well. We are Earth-1 and they are Earth-2.

Dagger: Isn't that a bit arrogant? Why are we Earth-1 and they are Earth-2, and not the other way?

Nick Fury: Because I say so! Do you prefer, say, Earth-616 and Earth-1610? Focus, people! The end is nigh, as they say, don't waste time with irrelevances!

Spider-Woman: I have a question. You said that the Maker has been dealing with those incursions for some months now. But what about some years or decades ago? Does S.H.I.E.L.D. know of any similar events taking place in the past, before the Maker worked on it?

Nick Fury: Not to my knowledge. But it seems clear that there were none. The way they were described, if an incursion took place and nobody realized it, earth would have been destroyed and we wouldn't be having this discussion.

Spider-Woman: But that's not how the universe works. Things are basically static, and take place in patterns. Things like this would be happening either constantly, or with centuries in between. But never happening, and then happening with such a frequency? That doesn't add up. From my point of view, someone must be causing it.

Nick Fury: Good point, but it's speculation. We need data and intelligence, more than what the Maker gathered. We need a way to go or view this Earth-2, and know what's happening there. Ideas?

Hawkeye: What about that portal in that warehouse? The one that left their Parker here, and that we used during the Cataclysm.

Tony Stark: That's no longer an option, the portal simply closed itself. We have no idea what created it, or how to make another one ourselves. But speaking of that, Spider-Man, at that time you showed up with an alternate Jean Grey who was trying to go back to her home dimension. What happened with that? Is she still lost around here? Or did he found a way to return… a way that we may use as well?

Spider-Man: She got here, and then returned home, because of a mutant from Earth-2 who can jump dimensions at will.

Nick Fury: That is good to hear! Do you remember her name?

Spider-Man: Carmen Cruise, but what for? She returned to her own world, she can't help us.

Nick Fury: But perhaps she has a doppelganger in our world with similar powers, let me check… no. There was a kid, but she died during the Ultimatum wave. Sue, your team also met someone who could jump between dimensions, Rick Jones, and I understand that he's ours. What about him?

Susan Storm: After being here he left to the space again. It seems that he works for some aliens, the "Watchers of the universe", who tell him where to go and what to do. He said that, if we are in danger, the Guardians will sense it and send him here.

Nick Fury: Great. Just… great. If he comes, so much the better, but unless those talking sticks send him, we'll have to proceed as if he wasn't going to show up. What about you, Spider-Man? Something you may want to share?

Spider-Man: Me?

Nick Fury: Yes, you. Some weeks ago we sensed interdimensional readings coming from the local cemetery… and I suspect that you know what am I talking about.

Spider-Man: (the cemetery? Of course! My mom's grave!) Ah, yes. That was quite…

Spider-Woman: Easy, Spidey, I'll do the talking. Yes, Fury, there were interdimensional invaders there, I was with him when it happened. They are called the Inheritors, and they hunted the people with Spider-related powers across dimensions. We had an adventure with several Spider-people from several universes, but that's beyond the point. At the end of it, we had the Master Weaver, who oversees all of them, and some of them created a team of inter-dimensional superheroes, the "Web warriors". They can jump dimensions with some special watches. Unfortunately, I thought that to be a bit above my paygrade, so I declined the offer.

Nick Fury: Great. Again, they can contact us, but we can't contact them. Something else? Anything?

Sam Wilson: Well, Vision used to be able to see alternate realities, and told me about some quite weird ones out there. She told me about a dimension where a mutant named Apocalypse rules the world and the X-Men were led by Magneto, another where an alien named Thanos used the Infinity Gauntlet to kill half of all life in the universe, and one where I am a woman, Samantha Wilson, using the Captain America identity.

Storm: Magneto leading the X-Men? Is that your idea of a joke? I don't find it funny.

Sam Wilson: No, that was not a joke. Although Vision had come to understand the notion of humor, she never managed to crack a joke on her own. But yes, you have a point there…

Nick Fury: In any case, that doesn't help us. Vision is dead somewhere in the space, and it's not as if we had a time machine to bring her here.

Kitty Pryde: A time machine, you said? Yes, we have one!

Nick Fury: WHAT?

Kitty Pryde: Some months before the Ultimatum wave, we X-Men got two time-travelers from the future, Cable and Bishop. They had some devices with them that allowed them to stay in the present. Bishop's one did not work anymore and he couldn't go back to the future, so when he died we buried him with those. But perhaps, someone of all the science genius here can reverse-engineer them and make them work!

Nick Fury: I can't believe this! Were you out of your minds? Did you left such a device simply buried in the ground, for anyone to easily get it?

Kitty Pryde: Hey, I said they didn't work!

Nick Fury: Please, stop talking. You may have found a solution for our problem. Let's leave things at that, before I get crazy over the details. Let's go to retrieve those devices, and let's hope that they are still there.

Sue Storm: Wait a moment. We are talking about changing time. Is this a risk worth taking? Even if can make it work, we may make things even worse, or cause our collective demise.

Spider-Man: Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel. That means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events…

Tony Stark: I'm going to stop you right there, Spider-Man. Are you seriously telling me that the plan to save the universe is based on Back to the Future?

Spider-Man: No.

Tony Stark: Good. You had me worried there, because that'd be horseshit. That's not how quantum physics works.

Spider-Man: But what else can we do?

Nick Fury: Spider-Man has a point. Risky or not, it's a plan...

Tony Stark: 12 percent of a plan, that's what it is.

Nick Fury: ... part of a plan, right, but it's the only thing we got. Who supports it?

Sue Storm: I really have doubts, but if time travel has been done before, then that means it's possible. But it's a very dangerous thing, and we shouldn't abuse it.

Nick Fury: I'm not certain I'm right. I'm not a science genius, you people are. If you think it's so dangerous, I will take your word on it. Perhaps we can find some other solution…

Sue Storm: No! I mean, we have to be careful with this. I think that we should retrieve Vision from the point in time when she was last seen alive, to minimize the "butterfly effect".

Tony Stark: I agree. I don't see other options.

Dr. Doom: I agree as well.

Sam: So do I. And I'm not factoring my personal feelings in it.

Johnny Storm: Let's do it! What could possibly go wrong?

Ben Grimm: What Sue said goes for alla us FF'er's!

Hawkeye: This stuff is above my paygrade, boss, so if you agree with it, so do I.

Spider-Woman: Gee, I'm honored to be given a vote! I agree!

Spider-Man: I'm in! Who wants to argue with all of you heavy hitters?

Cloak: I think Spider-Man speaks for all of us all-new Ultimates!

Dagger: Hey, I speak for myself, you "#$%$%#%&$/! But, yes, I agree.

Bombshell: You said it, &%/%&/%&$#"%!

Jean Grey: I can already sense that we're all in agreement.

Storm: Yes, I also agree

Rogue: I agree.

Jimmy Hudson: Yes.

Kitty Pryde: I'm in. But now that we are talking about time travel, and bring people from the past… shouldn't we try to save Peter as well?

Nick Fury: My heart would say "yes" in a minute, but this is a dangerous stunt we'll try to pull. We'll do the bare minimum necessary, and no more. We can make a big disaster even by just doing that. We can't allow ourselves the luxury of making decisions with our hearths! Colossus? You haven't spoken yet. And you're the last.

Colossus: I… I just don't know! All this seems so grim, so unfair! I once thought that, despite all the hard times of being a mutant, I had find a home with Xavier. Then Magneto wrecks the world and kills Xavier. Then just being a mutant is made illegal, the mansion is closed, it turns out that mutants are just the result of a government experiment, and I am held prisoner and tortured at an anti-mutant fortress. All of that is finally over, even that absurd war with Tian, we have our little home in Utopia… and now this? An incursion that may destroy the world, and a solution that may be as dangerous as the problem?

Nick Fury: You may be right, son! I'm not dead certain about any of this. That's why it must be an unanimous vote… or we do nothing. But keep in mind, you all, that time travel is still an unknown territory. If we do decide to do this, we may face something unexpected, such as time spiders, time lords, Star Trek's time police or some nonsense like that.

Kitty Pryde: Piotr, that's a risk we have to take. What does the happiness of a handful people matter against the lives of billions?

Colossus: I am selfish. I matters to me. Or am I?

Nick Fury: Only you know that, son.

Colossus: Very well. Let's do it.

Several cops suddenly appear in the room.

Justice Peace: Halt! This is the Time Variance Authority! You're all under arrest for altering the timeline for significant gain!

Nick Fury: What? We have not committed any time crimes! Whatever they may be.

Justice Peace: What the hell kind of time cop would I be if I showed up after the time crime was committed? Now we'll take you all to the Null-Time Zone, and judge your crime, you criminal scum!

Kitty Pryde: Oh, for Pete's sake…

Kitty becomes intangible and floats under the floor. Then she shows up behind the cops and passes through their time bracelets, which ruins them and sends them back to their own time.

Nick Fury: Good work. But now we are on a timetable. We must proceed with this, before this Time Variance Authority tries to interfere again.

The X-Men return to the mansion, dig up Bishop and remove his bracelet. The science guys worked with it as quickly as they could, and finally they discovered how to recharge and use it.

**Two years before, at earth's exosphere**

Sue: Vision, stop!

Vision: Sue? I have told you, this is something I have to… wait, I sense that are polluted with chronons. You came from the future. Your mere presence here may cause our collective demise.

Sue: Tell me about it… Yes, I came here because we need your help.

Vision: But I have a mission of utmost importance.

Sue: Yes, you have sensed Galactus. Spoiler alert: he will kill you. Then he will come to earth, and we'll manage to drive him away to the negative zone. But now, we are literally facing the end of the universe itself. We need your help with this.

Vision: But I am not suited for combat. I was created to observe, and to narrate.

Sue: And that is exactly what we need you to do. Observe, and narrate. Please, come with us. The universe needs you more than ever.

Vision: Very well. Let's go.

_I have seen the demon's face_

_I have heard of her death place_

_I fall down on my knees in praise of the_

_Horrible things that took her away_

_And death climbs up the steps one by one_

_To give you the rose_

_That's been burnt by her son_

_Point me to the sky above_

_I can get there on my own_

_Walk me to the graveyard_

_Dig up her bones_

Misfits - "Dig up her bones"


	4. Everything dies

_Across the heavens I made my way_

_I've seen empires rise and blown away_

_I have arrived... my destiny_

_But after all, there's just emptiness in me_

_Out in the darkness - I've been going mad_

_Where are the others - there's silence in my head_

_'Cause I'm a watcher in the sky_

_I've seen universes die_

_Out in the cold my systems overload_

_I'm here and lost in time_

_Watcher in the sky_

Iron Savior - "Watcher in the sky"

Nick Fury: Sue! Vision! You made it! Now, let's…

Vision: In a moment, General Fury. First, there is something I must do without delay. (she approaches the Falcon and kisses him). I love you, Samuel Wilson. I realized it in the void of space after I left. I thought that I felt nothing. But, in fact, it turns out, I felt everything. Sam, you wanted to make me more human, and I resisted. Saw it as foolish. I tricked myself, or perhaps my programming did it for me, into thinking I could be apart from the world I tried to save. But they lived on inside me. Otherwise, the futility of my mission would've destroyed me. I've felt things, Sam. I've felt things, Sam. For eons, I've felt fear and sadness, and I never understood them. Until I felt a different emotion. One I couldn't parse. Love. I love you, Sam Wilson.

Sam Wilson: Wow. I don't know what to say.

Vision: Very well. Take your time to figure out your emotions. In the meantime, please explain why you brought me here. It has to be a really important thing, to break the laws of time for it.

Nick Fury: You can bet it, lady. There are some events, called "incursions" that seem to have been destroying whole dimensions, and may destroy this one as well. We need to know what is this all about.

Vision: I understand. Give me some minutes, so I synchronize myself with the multiverse and download all the relevant historical data related to your query.

Two hours later

Nick Fury: Sam, is this normal? She has been frozen that way a long time.

Sam Wilson: I don't know. She once stayed that way while she absorbed all the knowledge generated by our planet, seeking if we had something that may stop the Gah Lak Tus swarm. But it only lasted for a brief time, like 20 seconds or so. I don't know why it is taking…

Vision: Watching the m0unta1ns… watching the se7… watching th6 cre8tu7res… you'l1 never… I am ready. I have downloaded all the required information about the incursions, both from other realities and from what has been happening here.

Nick Fury: Tell us what's going on, then. What are those incursions? What can we do to stop them? What are we up against?

Vision: It's… it's complicated.

Nick Fury: Start by the beginning, then.

Vision: First, there was nothing, followed by everything…

Sue: No, not _that_ beginning. We know the Big Bang. Jump to the info relevant to the incursions.

Vision: Have in mind that I will talk about people from an alternate dimension, the one you had previously designated as "Earth-2". Many of them may exist in our world but having radically different backgrounds or motivations from the people we knew. Try not to confuse them or get offended by the divergences.

Storm: I'll try my best.

Vision: There are two alien races, the Kree and the Skrull, that have been enemies since millennia. Many years ago Earth was caught in the crossfire of their war, as both of them tried to get a hold on the planet. The Avengers, the Earth-2 Ultimates, managed to drive them away. Many of the leaders of the superhuman community met in a secret conclave to discuss this. They were T'Challa, the Black Panther; Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic; Tony Stark, Iron Man; Stephen Strange, Dr. Strange; Charles Xavier, Professor X; Blackagar Boltagon, Black Bolt; and Namor. They figured out that they all knew some information about the aliens, but none of them the full picture of their threat. With the exception of the Black Panther, they agreed to have secret meetings to share information and deal with potential threats before they arise.

Nick Fury: Let's make a pause there. I recognize some of those names, others I don't. I understand that none of them are the people we know, but then, who are them? Not their full biographies, just their basic significance and the divergences that we should be aware of to understand from now on.

Vision: A reasonable question. T'Challa is the king of Wakanda, a highly advanced African country; he's a great fighter and scientist. Reed Richards is an adult, he never became the Maker and he's still with the Fantastic Four. Tony Stark has no noteworthy divergences with our own one. Stephen Strange is the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth-2. He's not similar to the novice you knew, but to his father, who worked in secrecy and never met any of you. Charles Xavier is the leader of the X-Men, and a leading figure in the mutant community. Mutants of Earth-2 are not the result of super soldier experiments, but an actual new step of human evolution. Black Bolt is the king of the Inhumans, a secret race of super powered beings. They are similar, but our Inhumans left the planet years ago when the Fantastic Four discovered them and they feared that their lifestyle was under threat. Namor is the King of Atlantis, the underwater kingdom of the Homo Mermanus, who are still alive.

Sue Storm: Homo Mermanus? You mean a hominidae of the genus Homo, adapted to live underwater? That's amazing!

Nick Fury: Perhaps, but let's not get distracted. We must save our worlds first; we can leave tourism for later.

Vision: This group had some membership changes along the way. Captain America, also with no noteworthy divergences, joined them, and Charles Xavier was killed by Scott Summers, who was possessed by the Phoenix force at the time.

Jean Grey: NO! NOOOOOOO!

Kitty Pryde: Easy, Jean…

Jean Grey: Yes, I know, they are alternate dimension duplicates, like that other me, but still… I mourn the deaths of Scott and the Professor every day, and to hear this… it is too much!

Vision: I understand that divergences may have this effect, but as I said Scott Summers was under the influence of an alien force. He did not kill Charles Xavier out of malice. As I was saying, Xavier left a secret will for Henry McCoy, the Beast, who replaced him among the Illuminati. T'Challa also ceased to be the king of Wakanda, and his sister Shuri was his successor.

Vision: So, the Incursions. Black Panther discovered by chance an incursion zone in Wakanda, where a Black Swan arrived from the other earth and destroyed it. He captured her and kept her prisoner, and summoned the Illuminati for aid. They used the Infinity Stones to drive away the next planet, but they were all shattered, except for the Time Stone, which was lost. Captain America insisted that they had to keep seeking ways to save both planets, but Dr. Strange mind wiped him and made him forget about them.

Hawkeye: So, those Infinity Stones can solve the whole problem. Sounds like the solution we need.

Vision: No. The Infinity Stones of this universe are also shattered, after the Maker tried to make use of them. And they only work in their home universe; the stones of another dimension would be useless for us.

Kitty Pryde: But we have already used time travel to bring you back. We can bring back the stones from the past as well. We can make a big "time heist"!

Vision: I strongly advise against doing so, or from using time travel at all, ever again. Wait until I finish, and my reasons will be clear.

Vision: Captain America continued serving in the Avengers with Iron Man, ignoring the mind wipe. The team was expanded, with both a core team for day-to-day operations and a larger one for times of crisis. They defended earth from an attack of Ex Nihilo and Abyss, alien creatures who sought to alter evolution to their own vision and recreate the biosphere from scratch. They released bombs from Mars that altered the local biosphere into new forms. Abyss and Ex Nihilo were created by an Aleph, a herald of an alien race, the Builders, who roam the universe judging planets for their potential for evolution. They ceased their attack when Captain Universe, an agent of Eternity, the living embodiment of the universe, ordered them to stop. They agreed to stay in Mars, and to let their manufactured human, Adam, be taken to earth, where he announced the coming of the White event…

Tony Stark: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop right there. Hold the door. Hit the brakes. Cut. An agent of the living embodiment of the universe? Are you saying that their universe is... alive?

Vision: Yes, and ours too. You have never seen the abstracts, explaining them would be too long and deviate us from the problem at hand. But, in short, do not expect a divine intervention. Eternity works in mysterious ways, and has often rejected aid requests, even in times when the universe at large was in peril.

Vision: So, without the Infinity stones, the Illuminati sought other solutions to the incursions. Most of them involved the destruction of the other world. They reverse-engineered the bomb used by the Black Swan, in case of need. They moved to the next world, and found that the dreaded Galaktus had intervened. He destroyed that world before the incursion completed its cycle, saving that universe. But, in the process, they captured his herald, Terrax the Truly Enlightened, and kept him prisoner as well. The Black Swan told them about the other Black Swans, a whole order of women like her, and the Library of the Ivory Kings. She proposed a simple way to end the incursions: evacuate earth and destroy the planet. Of course, that's not an option here; your technology is barely capable of taking small numbers of astronauts to the Moon for a limited time. The next incursion took place in Latveria, the kingdom of Dr. Doom. This one was an attack from the mapmakers, aliens who go from earth to earth, destroying all life in those they left behind. However, that allowed Black Panther to blow up that world without feeling guilt.

Doctor Doom: Great. If my doppelganger from that dimension got involved, they surely found a swift solution.

Vision: We'll see. However, something else happened by that time as well, unrelated to the events I'm narrating, but important for our reality. Many years in the past, Henry Pym built Ultron, the first AI of his world, which soon evolved into a homicidal creature bent on destroying all life. In an alternate future he achieved this, so Wolverine used a time machine to kill Pym in the past before he could create Ultron, and then returned. He found that the world fell into a magic vs. technology war, leading to another extinction event. He jumped to the past again, to stop himself from killing Pym. Instead, they created a code that would destroy Ultron, made Pym forget it, and remember it in the present. The first two timelines were replaced by the current one, where Ultron was destroyed before he could carry out his plan. However, this abuse of time travel disrupted time itself and caused several anomalies in their universe… such as displacing their Galactus to our universe.

Sam: What? That's why Galactus attacked us?

Jean Grey: So, all those deaths… it was all because of Wolverine!

Jimmy Hudson: Actually, it was all because of that Pym…

Kitty Pryde: And that's why you opposed using time travel before?

Vision: Exactly. I suspected it before coming here, but now I know: time travel is dangerous, and it can have terrible consequences. And my arrival here is not the first case of time travel in this universe: there were the ones by the Tomorrow Men, Cable and Bishop, the Fantastic Four and Kang. But let's go back to the White Event. The Superflow was destroyed, the universe was broken, and so the White Event did not take place as it should. The Starbrand was selected at random, could not manage his newfound power, and the explosion killed 3,203 people caught in the blast. Adam, who had become a Nightmask, took the Starbrand to Mars. They found out that Ex Nihilo's secret goal was to make Earth sentient, but Starbrand killed its brain by accident, and agreed to be taken out of the planet.

Hawkeye: White event? Superflow? Starbrand? Nightmask? I'm getting a bit lost here...

Tony Stark: Please, tell me that our own Earth is not alive as well.

Vision: No, it isn't. The Builders and Ex-Nihilo do not exist in this universe. One of Ex-Nihilo's bombs attacked Canada, and the area was contained. As the local creatures became more dangerous, Liaison Porter asked the Avengers for help to get inside, and insisted in going with them. They found his daughter, Validator; he committed suicide when he left and the Avengers did not remember most of their time inside. The Savage Land gave birth to children that did not need to eat, drink or breathe, and the Avengers tried to raise them with human values. The High Evolutionary tried to experiment with them, but the Avengers stopped him. Incursions briefly ceased to take place, and hostilities between Wakanda and Atlantis rose, as Namor had flowed Wakanda some months before. Reed Richards mass produced the world-destroyer bombs, in case of need.

Sue Storm: So much for the popular theory of their Reed being much better than ours. It had to be said, and it was said.

Vision: Whatever. The conflicts in the bombed areas worsened, so the Avengers added Ex-Nihilo, Abyss, Starbrand and Nightmask to their ranks. The Builders became a threat for most galactic empires, and razed the Skrull world of Hy'Lt minor, so the Avengers took the fight to them. At the same time, the galactic conqueror Thanos discovered that one of his sons was on Earth, at the Inhuman city of Attilan, so he crossed the universe with his Black Order to execute him. The Black Order are Black Dwarf, Corvus Glaive, Ebony Maw, Proxima Midnight and Supergiant.

Sue Storm: Kill his own son? I see that he's not any better than our own Thanos.

Ben Grimm: Please, don't call him that.

Bombshell: Black Order? Forget the "All-New Ultimates" name guys; "Black Order" sounds cool as hell! Let's use it! And I will rename myself as "Proxima Midnight"!

Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Kitty Pryde, Cloak, Dagger: (face palm)

Vision: The Avengers joined a Council of space empires that united against the Builders: the Shi'Ar, Spartax, the Kree, Annihilus, the Skrulls and the Brood. They attacked a small Builder ship, but it was a trap that concealed a larger fleet and caught them unawares, decimating two thirds of their forces in minutes and capturing some Avengers, including Abyss, Nightmask and Starbrand. J'Son, king of Spartax, tried to negotiate a truce, but by doing so the Builders located and attacked the council. Most empires surrendered, but the Avengers managed to seize two star-killers and turn them against the rest of the Builder fleet. Starbrand dispatched the rest, and the builders escaped. Pretending to surrender, Thor killed the Builder that stayed in Hala. Then, Captain Universe woke up and destroyed all the Builders.

Tony Stark: Just that easy? She simply snaps her fingers and a whole race of destructive aliens is decimated, ending the whole conflict? If I saw that in a film, I would ask for a refund.

Vision: In another universe, you did a similar thing yourself. And in yet another one, you are a fictional character, and do that in a film… the highest grossing film of all time.

Tony Stark: (Mind-blown)

Vision: But you are right, she killed most of the builders but not all of them, so the Council armada marched across several invaded worlds doing cleanup of the last builders and Alephs. Back on Earth, Wakanda attacked Atlantis first and razed it. Then, Thanos sent the Black Order to each one of the Illuminati, to retrieve the time gem. None of them had it, but Namor said that it was in Wakanda, so that the Black Order destroyed it for him. Corvus Glaive asked a tribute from the Inhumans, the death of all young Inhumans, but he only really wanted the death of Thane, who was actually hiding at an Inhuman village. Thanos arrives himself at Attilan, but the city had been evacuated and Black Bolt destroyed it with his voice. This destruction activated a bomb that caused worldwide terrigenesis, activating the powers of all latent Inhumans in the world, including Thane, who was captured by Ebony Maw. Thanos and the Black Order razed Wakanda, and found the anti-matter bombs. Meanwhile, the Illuminati faced another incursion, and found Builders who intended to stop them by destroying all earths in the multiverse. They returned in time to rescue Black Bolt and deactivate the bomb that Thanos intended to leave behind, while the Avengers returned from space with the Council armada. They dispatched the Black Order, and Thane himself trapped Thanos and Proxima Midnight inside a cube, ending the war.

Nick Fury: All this is really interesting, and I would like to hear more details about many things. But let's try to keep the focus on the incursions. That's the immediate danger for us.

Vision: Very well. The presence of Namor at the Necropolis became known in Wakanda, so Black Panther was casted out. Tony Stark's granddaughter arrived from the future and helped to phase another planet with earth, which provided a better world destroyer weapon than the bombs.

Tony Stark: Wow! So I… I mean, him… have a granddaughter? Finally some good news from this Earth 2.

Vision: They also built a machine to observe alternate realities, so they could observe incursions taking place elsewhere, hoping that some alternate universe could have come up with a solution for them. They only saw, time and again, that everything dies. Dr. Strange left to other planes, seeking the power to destroy worlds. He did not hesitate to sell his soul for it. But the Illuminati were not the only ones aware of the problem: the scientist conclave of Advanced Idea Mechanics also noticed the death of the multiverse. While probing the multiverse they accidentally teleported evil Avengers from a world that was in an incursion: Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Ant-Man and the Wasp. They managed to retrieve them and send them to another world, but the local Hulk had killed his doppelganger and infiltrated them, and learned about the ongoing crisis. Stark confirmed it, and he joined the Illuminati. Nick Fury killed Uatu, an alien who had been watching the human race since centuries, and the villain Orb activated one of his stolen eyes, causing all sorts of secrets to become known. This included Dr. Strange's mind wipe, and Captain America remembered again the actions of the Illuminati.

Sue Storm: Uatu? Wasn't that one of the Watchers of the Universe?

Vision: Yes, he is. When Captain America faced Tony Stark the time gem reappeared and sent him to the end of time. He was received by the time traveler Kang the Conqueror, who was trapped in a time loop. They had previously been in that scenario and sent Captain America back, to find other solutions for the incursions. They tried recreating the Counter-Earth and altering the planetary orbit, but none of them worked. So Kang tried keeping Captain America trapped there. He escaped, and warned all the Avengers that the Illuminati were planning to destroy worlds.

Nick Fury: ...so he outed them, intending them to submit to oversight by their peers. I think I understand…

Hawkeye: Well, I'm glad _you_ understand it, boss! Alla this divergent stuff… it's just givin' me a migraine!

Vision: Of course, the byzantine schemes of Jonathan Hickman are not for everyone to understand…

Nick Fury: Jonathan Hickman? Who is that?

Vision: That's… a long story, for another time. In the meantime, Black Panther and Namor found a world that survived three incursions. They had a superhero group, the Great Society. They were Sun God, Norn, Jovian, Rider, Dr. Spectrum and Boundless.

Nick Fury: Fine. That's what I want to hear: how to survive an incursion.

Vision: The first time they used a Wishing Box, a device that grants infinite power. It moved the other earth away, but it got destroyed in the process. And no, we do not have a Wishing Box in this universe.

Hawkeye: So, it's the same no-solution problem as with the Infinity Gauntlets.

Vision: There was another incursion that I have been unable to see. And a third one was a blue incursion. They defeated the mapmakers, and Norn destroyed the empty world with a word of power. Of course, the last incursion we'll face will not be an empty world. Then there was an incursion between the worlds of the Great Society and Earth 2. The Great Society was defeated, and the Illuminati crossed their moral frontier by blowing up an inhabitated world

(General jaw dropping)

Sue Storm: I understand that they were a group, but I have to know it: who pulled the trigger? Was it Reed?

Storm: Was it their Hank?

Nick Fury: Was it T'Challa?

Tony Stark: I really hope it was not the other me.

Vision: It was Namor. This led to an immediate backlash against him by all the others, who casted him out of the team. Even more, he confessed to Black Panther that he had lured the Black Order to Wakanda, which infuriated him even more. And right then and there, there was another incursion coming. The Illuminati gave up and did nothing to stop it, but Namor released Thanos, the Black Order, the Black Swan and Maximus, Black Bolt's brother, and recruited their help. Under the name of the Cabal, they protected their planet by destroying all earths that got in an incursion with it.

Sam: Not so different to what the Maker was doing before we caught him.

Vision: Namor soon finds out that he can't work with the Cabal. He only killed worlds as a necessary evil, but they relished on the genocide. They killed the Supreme Power, that you met some time ago. He asked Dr. Doom for help instead, but Doom refused. Doom, in fact, had plans of his own. Captain America, who had returned to the present, started to pursue the Illuminati. As Nick Fury died and became the Unseen, Captain America was appointed director of S.H.I.E.L.D., using their resources for it.

Nick Fury: The what? Oh, never mind, please continue.

Vision: The Illuminati allowed S.H.I.E.L.D. to detect them in Cadiz, Spain, counting that a blue incursion would take place soon after the fight started. Namor gave himself in, and lured the Cabal to a mapmaker world, while the Avengers set a machine that would keep them in that world. Namor was supposed to flee before the trap was closed, but he found the Black Panther. T'Challa put the king's blade where it belongs, and Black Bolt made him fall to the mapmaker planet again, and then close the trap. He gave them some spare minutes, expecting him to wake up and realize that he was about to die. However, a second incursion took place, and Namor and the Cabal managed to escape the doomed world before it exploded. That incursion was the one that led them here, where they met the Maker. The FF…

Sue Storm: Thanks, but we already know what happened here since that point.

Vision: Reed detailed other alternatives that he had tried, all to no avail. As Earth is the focal point of the incursions, they tried to use a cosmic cube to create a new planet and migrate all of earth to it, but the creation blew up and the cube was lost. They asked the abstracts of the universe for help, but they simply vanished. Franklin Richards, son of Reed Richards and Sue Storm, is a powerful reality warper. His father asked him to create a new universe and move all of Eath-2 to it, but the task was beyond his powers. Even more, he noticed that the number of alternate universes had suddenly decreased to just two dozens. And to make things worse, the Council realized the problem and united forces again, in order to save the universe by destroying earth.

Nick Fury: Sue? Do you think that any of those measures would work here?

Sue Storm: We still have the blueprints of the Cosmic Cube, and we may build a third one, but it would take at least six months. There is just no way we can do it in mere days. And I had no sons with Reed…

Ben Grimm: Wait a moment. Is this the reason that strange pig creature was saying that you had to have a son with Reed? We could have saved the universe that way?

Sue Storm: I know, I know… but it was the Maker! How can someone ask me to have a son with _him_?

Vision: Perhaps I should remind you that Earth-2 Franklin Richards could not do what was expected of him. Even if we had our own Franklin, there is no guarantee that he could have done it. Or that the same problem would not manifest on that other universe, or that such a universe could survive the destruction of the one that gave it birth.

Vision: A team composed by Starbrand, Nightmask, Thor, Hyperion and several Ex-Nihilos was sent to the other side of the multiverse, to attack the source of the incursions. They found the seat of power of the Black Priests, which was led by Dr. Strange. He explained that the Black Priests had been destroying alternate earths to save their respective universes, hoping that in the long run this would heal the whole multiverse. He pointed that the whole crisis was caused by Rabum Alal and the Ivory Kings, and that they need to take down both. Henry Pym returned to Earth at that point, after retrieving information about the Ivory Kings. Many heroes and villains had once met a child unit, who reshaped the universe to force them to fight a secret war. The Ivory Kings, with absolute and infinite power, destroyed the superstation of pan-universal Builders and Alephs, the Captain Britain Corps, and even the abstracts of the universe in their multiversal forms. Even the Living Tribunal fell before them. The multiversal Avengers arrived to their dimension and the Beyonders killed them all. And Dr. Strange made his way into the Library, and finally met the great destroyer, Rabum Alal. However, that plane is so far removed that I can't see anything from it. So, all this is the problem. This is what the incursions are.

Nick Fury asked some final clarifications, and a shadow of despair soon clouded the room. The hope they got by retrieving Vision from the past dissipated. She could offer no solution. The problem was bleaker than they had suspected, and from anything else they have ever faced before, including the Ultimatum wave, the coming of Gah Lak Tus, and the coming of Galactus himself. The FF pondered the available information time and again, trying to find a solution, some new angle, some overlooked detail, anything. Tony Stark made some phone calls, with his usual humor and snark completely exhausted, and the others had little else to say.

Nick Fury collapsed in a corner, completely incapable to come up with a solution or strategy. This was bigger than anything he faced before, bigger that anything he ever dreamed. Even Gah Lak Tus seemed like a child's play in comparison. He remembered that he once boasted that when he died God would have to give him the seat, and for a moment thought that he was paying the price of his blasphemy. He dismissed the notion and kept thinking: this was not about him, but about the universe. But what could possibly be done? The greatest mind of both universes found no solution, what could he possibly do that they had not thought before? Even blowing up the other world, an idea that he promised not to entertain, would be useless: that was the mechanic of the incursions, right, but if those all-powerful Ivory Kings were destroying the multiverse, who was to say that they wouldn't simply show up and destroy the last standing universe anyway? And no point trying to fight them: Earth-2 had already sent their biggest guns against them, and they were obliterated in minutes. The others started to despair. Kitty Pryde proposed that, if the destruction of the universe was unavoidable, perhaps they should try to at least save some last humans and mutants, to save the human race somehow. Not even this idea was accepted: _where_ would those last people live, if the multiverse was destroyed? Some thought the idea made no sense, others thought that it was worth a try, and Miles insisted that they should save both worlds somehow.

Spider-Man: But we're going to do something… right?

Tony Stark: Survive.

Spider-Man: Mr. Stark, survive is not something…

Nick Fury (standing up): No, it's not. But that's because we didn't have a plan. Until now.

_You take a mortal man_

_And put him in control_

_Watch him become a god_

_Watch people's heads a'roll_

_A'roll, a' roll_

_Just like the Pied Piper_

_Led rats through the streets_

_We dance like marionettes_

_Swaying to the symphony_

_Of destruction_

Megadeth - "Symphony of Destruction"


	5. One More Day

_Times of peace, times of fights, constant movement is our life_

_Can't stop no more, not until...we die_

_We long for more...eternity, and maybe there's another life_

_This one is short, no matter how you try_

_Ohh, but never give up all the hope to lead a good life_

_No, don't waste your given time to make things worse_

_Time...marches_

_Time...marches_

_On without us all, never stops, yes_

_Time...marches_

_Time...marches_

_On and on and on, flies eternally_

Helloween - "March of time"

The teenager heroes were walking to Queens, to the home of May Parker. Miles Morales, Jessica Drew, Kitty Pryde, Lana Baumgartner, Johnny Storm and Bobby Drake. They all had fancy ways to move across the city, such as webs, flight, ice constructs and other powers, but they were simply not in the mood for it. All of them were sad. Some people in the streets recognized Johnny Storm, the former member of the Fantastic Four… before the breakup, before the Maker. Others recognized Kitty Pryde, the mutant who grew to giant size and stood against the purple alien that was about to destroy the world. But nobody interrupted them: just a look at their faces, and it was clear that they were not in the mood to give autographs or pose for selfies.

They did not tell May Parker what was about to happen. Not by phone. News like this have to be delivered personally. They all felt that Peter Parker, the original Spider-Man, was the greatest of them all, the one who bonded them all together. Peter was not actually dead, but only Miles knew that, and was keeping the secret as Peter Parker wanted. May Parker was no superhero, but they also respected her as a motherly figure. She even allowed Johnny and Bobby to stay at her home after the Ultimatum, despite having absolutely no previous relation with them. And all the gang agreed on something: although the incoming incursion would not be revealed, to prevent the inevitable chaos and anarchy that it would cause, May Parker deserved to know. It was cruel to let her die without knowing that she's about to die. Yes, Nick Fury got a plan, but the perspectives were so bleak that they couldn't risk him being wrong.

May was happy to receive them at home. "I prepared cookies for all!", she said at the door. She had also called Ganke and Kong, thinking that they wanted to have a reunion like the last time they celebrated Peter Parker's life. Kong brought another classmate, Jessica Jones. Mary Jane was not there, she had left with Peter to some unknown destination. May realized immediately that something was wrong. "What happened? Did… someone else die?" They shared a look between themselves, told her that it was a bit more complicated, and asked to come in.

The whole problem, as it was explained by Vision, was of course too much to explain. They barely got the general idea, and they had already forgot a lot of what was said in there. Miles started then from an event that May knew about. "Do you remember the adult Peter Parker, that we met some months ago?", he asked. Rhetorical question. _Of course_ that she remembers him. Who could forget something like that? Then he clarified: no, he didn't came back.

"The thing is the world where he came from. It is another, alternate world, that exists… somewhere. With its own people and its own society. Peter was the one we met, but as he explained, there is another May Parker, another Gwen Stacy, another Mary Jane..."

"Yes, the supermodel Mary Jane. I still can't get my head around that. A supermodel? MJ?", interrupted Gwen.

"Yeah, well, in theory there is an infinite number of alternate earths. But, long story short, all of them are being destroyed, by some… some thing we barely understand." said Miles. "Our world, and that Peter's world, are the only two worlds that still exist. And soon, there will be none."

Kong laughed at the idea. "Ha! Good joke! That's a good one! All the worlds being destroyed…!" Then he noticed that they were not laughing. "I mean, it's a joke, right? It has to be a joke! Please! Are you serious? The world is really going to end?"

"Yes, it is, Kong" said Kitty. "The details are too complicated, but yes, this is the end. We came to say goodbye. There's nothing we can do…"

"NO!", said May, smashing the table with her fist. "Everything lives. It lives before it dies, and we are judged by what we do during that time. Like a brilliant, life-giving star, we illuminate the universe, chasing away the shadows. We celebrate life and then celebrate that creation. This is simply how things are. It cannot be contained. It never will. So, we will not tolerate, we will not accept, to give life an early end. If the world is truly ending, if there is nothing we can do about it, we will not waste our last moments sad and worried. We will celebrate life!"

"Granny Goodness is right!" agreed Lana. "We might as well throw it all, and live like there's no tomorrow!". And, before he could react, she took Miles and gave him a passionate kiss. "Yeah, let's let's do this!", Ganke took Gwen, and gave her a kiss as well. Both Miles and Gwen rejected the advances. Gwen liked Ganke, but now he took things a bit too far, too quickly. Yes, the world was ending, but she wasn't in the mood for this. And, although Lana may have an unrequited crush on Miles, Miles had a girlfriend, Kate Bishop, and was not willing to betray her.

"You stop all that right now!", shouted May. "There will be no hanky-panty in this house. Not even in the face of Armageddon." Then she smiled again. "You, girl", she said to Jessica. "Jessica, right? You are that Spider-Woman, right? The one I met during the Ultimatum wave?"

"Yes, that's me, aun… Ms. May", she replied. She was about to call her "aunt", but refrained from doing do. She still has all the memories of Peter Parker from before the cloning, and usually finds to it hard to interact with people that he knew, as she has to keep apart the things she know, did and said by herself and those that Parker did.

"Peter once talked to me about you. That you were a clone made by that horrible man, Otto Octavius. That you have his powers and memories, but struggle to be your own person. So, tell me, which is your birthday?", asked May. Jessica got red of embarrassment. Yes, she remembers a birthday date, but that was Peter's. As a clone, she had not been "born", and had no birthday. She was unsure what to answer, but May continues: "Relax, Jessica! I understand it, you don't have a birthday! But that won't be! Let's fix that, right here and now! If you never had your own birthday party, and this is the last day, let's make a birthday party for Jessica! It falls in this day, because I say so! We have cookies, so let's order a cake, drinks, candies, snacks! Gwen, bring the stereo, we need music here! And some group games!"

The general mood changed with the proposal, and soon there was a whole party going on. A pair of hours later they started a "Truth or dare" game. Of course, May managed it, to make sure that the "no hanky-panty" was followed. The first turn was for Miles. "Dare", he said.

"You will have to stand in the roof…", and Miles relaxed, that's too easy! Then she completed the dare: "...with just one feet, and holding this big bowl of snacks. And none may fall to the ground!". That wasn't quite as easy. Advancing with just one feet requires to make little jumps from point to point, but when he tried to do that he almost fell to the ground: when he "jumped" he ceased to stick to the roof, and gravity would have ruined it all if he didn't manage to save the bowl before sticking to the wall again. So, he made a bigger jump from the wall to a point in the roof, while keeping the bowl safe. He did it, and managed to stay in a precarious balance… and then fell to the ground. Everybody laughed about the whole experience. Then it was the turn of Kitty Pryde. "Truth", she said.

"Mention some moment when you protested about something a parent or teacher did or said, but you later realized that they were right". She first thought about her mother, but did not remember any such cases. She initially left her at the Xavier School under strict instructions not to join in super heroics, and she did not like that. She still thinks that she was mistaken, so it was not an example. She thought about Charles Xavier then. "There was that night when MJ was missing and S.H.I.E.L.D. started a military operation right here to seize Peter. Do you remember it?". Jessica did not say anything. That was the night when all the clones of Peter came to light, herself included, and she does not like to remember it. "How could I forget that?" said May, "I had a heart attack because of it. There was even a fake version of Richard Parker, Peter's father. But Peter later told me all the madness of that night, and never mentioned you being in it". "The X-Men were on thin ice with S.H.I.E.L.D. at the time", Kitty explained, "so he acted in secrecy. We knew it when the TV reported it, and by the time we arrived here, everything was already almost resolved. When we discovered about your heart attack, I sneaked into the hospital with Jean Grey, to see if we could help somehow. I noticed that you had discovered Peter's secret identity, so I asked Xavier to erase that from your mind. He refused to do it, I insulted him for it, and almost blew our cover. But then I realized that it was for the best, and that the Professor was right to leave things that way." May ignored those events, but thanked Xavier for letting her keep her memories intact. Now it was the turn of Johnny Storm. "Dare", he said, so secure of himself.

"You have powers of fire. Bobby has powers of ice. Two opposite things. You will settle once and for all which one of you is better." "What? You want us to fight? And here, in your house? Our powers can be a bit destructive if not used with care, and this place is a bit more… fragile than the Baxter Building" asked Johnny, still confused by the dare. "Who said anything about powers? You will fight each other… with an arm wrestling!". That changed things. None of them had super strength, and relied on their super powers for superhero fights. They had never trained with weights, and it showed: when they removed their suits and got in T-Shirts, the girls mocked their scrawny arms. Even May couldn't help it and made a small repressed laughter. They both boasted their secure victory, sit in the table, started to press… and injured their muscles while trying. They had to stop, and it was a tie amid the general laughter. The next turn was for Lana. "Truth", she said.

"Please describe the most embarrassing clothes you had ever worn". "That's easy", she said without even stopping to think. "My first bombshell suit. I had a pink bandana, short trousers, and a top, leaving almost nothing to imagination. In my defense, I will point that I did not even want to be involved in any of that, it was my mom who wanted me to be a super villain alongside her." May was shocked: she had already met awful mothers, like Gwen's mom, but this? Forcing a little kid into a criminal life? "No offense, Lana, but your mom should be in jail! That's horrible!" "Oh, don't worry", said Lana, without losing her cool. "She _is_ in jail already. I'm out on parole."The next turn was for Kong. "Dare", he said. He's always been the guy who can't resist a dare.

"I know that, some years ago, you hanged out with Flash Thompson, and kept bullying my Peter. Right? Did you ever apologize to him?" "Hey, wait! We were young guys back then! We have moved on, we don't do that anymore! I'm a good guy now! Flash has even joined the army recently!, protested Kong. "That may be right, but you did not answer the question. Did you ever apologize for it?", insisted May. "Well, I'm not sure. I mean we did not stop because of some event, we simply matured…". "Meaning: no" concluded May. "Then this is your dare: you will walk that corridor, minding your own business, as if you were in the school… and Jessica, who shares the memories of Peter, will kick you like you used to. And then we'll all be even." Of course, none of them took it like a delayed revenge, but as just another laughable prank. Jessica visibly acted as if she was going to kick him, failed the kick and fell to the ground. Everybody laughed again. The next turn was for Ganke. "truth", he said.

"what was that little gift you gave Gwen the last time you had been here?", she asked. A simple question this time. But Ganke got his face red of embarrassment. "I… I can't say that! It's something private! Please, I change to 'Dare'!". "You can't change it now, and you have to tell us! Those are the rules!" pointed Johnny. "Come on! Wasn't the world ending, or something? Shouldn't you be all out there, saving us?", protested Ganke, trying to elude the question. "You won't get out so easily! We'll know when that 'incursion' takes place, but until then, there's nothing we can do! Which means, we will all stay here to know that!" replied Miles. "What's the big problem, Ganke? It was something so cute! Why are you so afraid to say it?" added Gwen. Bobby pointed that Gwen obviously knew it as well, the gift was for her after all, but she refused to answer: the question was for Ganke, he should be the one to answer it. "Very well, I will say it. It was two of the Care Bears: Friend Bear and Love-a-Lot Bear. They were meant to represent us", he confessed. "I love the Care Bears! Wasn't that the most sweet gift he could have given me?" said Gwen. The general laughter lasted for several minutes, and three times it was about to cease and then started all over again. Poor Gwen had no idea that the reveal would be so embarrassing for Ganke.

Some minutes later it was the turn of the cake. They all got around it, and started singing. "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday Jessica, happy birthday to you!", and she blew out the candles. A simple and traditional event that everyone does each year, but Jessica never did, as a result of her weird origin. But still, she got the chance to do it, before the end came. And with only some minutes to spare before the estimated hour of the event, they left the house and watched the sunset.

_Too many people, too much trouble, too many problems in the morn._

_Another sunrise in the rubble, another ship sunk by the storm._

_Some little angel tries to tell me that it's over._

_It's just a bad reflection from above._

_The load upon my shoulder makes me stronger, even bolder._

_Oh no no, I haven't had enough._

_Heaven can wait, 'til another day._

_Cause there ain't no reason to leave._

_The world is a stage where we all can play._

_Another fine reason to live, and heaven can wait, heaven can wait._

_Each day a new reason to give up, each day another reason to sigh._

_A hundred thousand ways to live up, a hundred thousand ways to try._

_Hey, little angel, don't you tell me that it's over._

_You're just a bad reflection from above._

_The load upon my shoulder gives me reasons to get older._

_Tell the boss I hadn't had enough._

_Heaven can wait, 'til another day._

_Cause there ain't no reason to leave._

_The world is a stage where we all can play._

_Another fine reason to live, and heaven can wait, heaven can wait._

Gamma Ray - "Heaven can wait"


	6. Day of Reckoning

_Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time._

Revelation 12:12

It was a busy day at the police station. There was a serious outbreak of crime in the recent days, and the police kept bringing people in. Some cops show up with a handcuffed woman. She was wearing a purple costume and mask, and had a crossbow. "What's the deal with this one, Lou?", asked Captain Frank Quaid. She replied with a loud voice "Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water". "Was that a threat? Do you want to know fear? To solitary confinement with her!", he replied. More cops arrived in their turn, bringing a handcuffed man with a face mask of Nightcrawler, a member of the X-Men presumed dead at the Ultimatum wave. He said in a loud voice "Atlantis is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication!". "Do you know what else will fall? My boot in your ass, if you don't shut up your nonsenses! Atlantis...! Solitary confinement as well!" Then he turned to his second in command and asked "Eddie, please google what does 'fornication' mean. Was that an insult?". The third one was wearing a dark red costume, similar to the "Daredevil" vigilante that also died during the Ultimatum wave. He said in a loud voice "If anyone worships the Beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name". "ENOUGH!", shouted Frank. "I had heard that this job would sometimes be like being the sheriff of crazytown, but this is just too literal! I'll take the rest of the day off!". "But, boss" interrupted Eddie "you can't leave just like that! I was trying to look up the meaning of 'fornication', but the Wi-Fi signal is too weak here!". "I don't care! leave that for tomorrow!", he said, closing the door behind him.

And somewhere in the city, Peter was in a rented room, toying with some tools and salvaged pieces. He had given his web-shooters to Miles Morales, but now he was making new ones. But he had no plans to actually return to the superhero life, he was doing it just because as a hobby. After all, Tony Stark was able to build his first suit of armor in a cave, with a box of scraps; Parker wouldn't be any less. Specially as the web shooters were not _that_ complex to build, not in comparison to the Iron Man armor, even the mark I. Then he suddenly heard a TV report that MJ saw in the TV while changing channels. "A west side welfare office has just been robbed of its total cash allotment, destined to the city's needy…". Peter suddenly stood up, interrupting his work. "A robbery! On the west side! If that money isn't recovered, what happens to relief payments this month?" Then he started to get ready to suit himself for the action. "handicapped people… old people… helpless infants… will be the sufferers! And they don't have bank accounts to fall on while waiting for help! The police may have already picked up the trail of the rats who pulled that job, but, just in case…". Then he stopped. He smiled and reminded himself that he had retired, that he had let Miles Morales continue with it. Mary Jane was not so sure if that was the right thing to do, but he insisted: he's retired, this is no longer his problem. Let the police, the Ultimates or the new Spider-Man deal with it. He had to focus on himself and MJ. And they needed some groceries, so he got out to the street.

The crime wave continued, and Peter found it hard to keep ignoring it and acting as if it was someone else's problem. Then he heard a man in a rooftop frantically asking for help. He saw from the distance that it was the watchman at a warehouse's rooftop, being attacked by criminals, and that there was no one else around who could reach and help him. That decided him. He quickly climbed the wall and faced the criminals, to save the watchman. But, although they were armed and assaulting him, their purpose was unclear. The first one said "Send forth thy sickle, and reap: for the hour to reap is come; for the harvest of the earth is ripe". The second one said "Send forth thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe". Peter did not even bother to try to figure out what they were talking about, and punched them down.

Minutes later, he is pondering about it in a dark alley. That he made promises and pledges about ending being Spider-Man, about letting Miles be the new one, but then gave it all up at the first chance he got. But why? To save a life, the life of a man who needed help. He thought in the watchman… and then noticed that his face reminded him of uncle Ben. He remembered when uncle Ben found him in a party at Kong's house, after he ran away from home. How, instead of enacting discipline on him, which would had been completely justified, he tried to teach him responsibility. That he ran away, without listening, and in his anger he let a criminal run away. That he returned home and found Ben dead, and when he caught the killer… it was that same criminal. He remembered that with great power comes great responsibility.

With a renewed sense of purpose, he took back his suit, finished the web shooters and jumped to the streets, to deal with the ongoing crime wave. But, just like in the rooftop, the criminals kept talking nonsenses when he attacked them. One of them said "Great and marvellous are thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty; righteous and true are thy ways, thou King of the ages. Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy; for all the nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy righteous acts have been made manifest." while Spider-Man webbed him and left him in a pole for the police. The next one was a big guy, and said "And he causeth all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bond, that there be given them a mark on their right hand, or upon their forehead; and that no man should be able to buy or to sell, save he that hath the mark, the name of the beast or the number of his name", until Spider-Man finally took him down.

Then he looked to the sky. He saw Magneto riding a red horse, and saying with a thunderous voice "Come". But wasn't he dead? Then he saw the Maker riding a black horse, who also said "Come". And Norman Osborn on a white horse and Kingpin on a pale one, also saying "Come". Wait a moment, since when can Kingpin fly? And wasn't he also dead? But it was only a moment. He looked again and they were not there, as if they had never been. He dismissed it and continued his patrol. Some minutes later he saw people floating to the sky. Not heroes or villains, they all looked like regular people, in fact several of them were dressed as Ministers or Nuns. He tried to rescue them but it was useless, he passed through them. He first thought in Kitty Pryde, but no: this trick was somehow more similar to something Dr. Strange could do. It gave the same vibes. And those people did not seem to be scared, in fact they seemed to be happy, so happy that they did not even notice him.

Peter returned with Mary Jane some hours later, exhausted after all the action. She was glad to see that he finally resumed being Spider-Man: she had accepted his retirement, but only half-heartedly. She was willing to give him time, but knew that he was only completely himself when he could be out there helping people. She gave him a long welcoming hug, but they were interrupted: The air turned dark and red, and there was a smell of sulfur. A red creature appeared, something that they could only describe as a demon. "Who are you?" was Peter's instinctive question. "_Please allow me to introduce myself. I'm a man of wealth and taste_" was his answer. Of course. He was a demon, what use would he have for a name? "_As you have seen, young Peter Parker, the world is about to end. I came here to make a proposal_", he said, but Peter remained sceptical. Yes, he saw a crime wave, but that was just a mundane event. Not the end of the world. And certainly nothing if compared with other disasters in recent history, such as the attack of Magneto to the White House, the rampage of the Hulk, the Ultimatum wave or the attack of Galactus, among others. "_You have already seen the signals, you just did not understand them. You have seen mad people committing acts of evil, with passages of the Book of Revelation in their lips. You have seen the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. You have seen the Rapture. What else do you think it all means?_" He had a point, but Peter would not give in so easily. Magneto, the Maker, the Green Goblin and Kingpin… horsemen of the Apocalypse? "_Of course not! Those are just men, evil men all right, but just of mortal stature. You cannot grasp the horsemen's true form, so you saw them as the most evil and wicked figures you can think about. Other people would see something else. Surely there is people claiming right now that they saw rapists and serial killers in the sky_". Then he quirked and continued. "_So, as I was saying, it's the end of the world. And in a short time from now, the skies will turn red and you'll see another planet earth hanging in the sky. That's truly a sight to behold. And when both earths clash, that will be the end. But it does not have to be that way! I can prevent that_". Peter was confused by this. "But, if you can do it… do it! You are the demon! You surely don't need anyone's help. And if you have demands in exchange of your help, tell that to the President, or Nick Fury. I'm just a small fry superhero". "_Oh, but I don't want anything from them. I want something from... you_" replied the demon. Peter got a bit scared and thought "Wait a minute. Is he coming onto me?". He asked if he wanted his soul in exchange of his help, and why his one out of so many people. He said that no, that he was not interested in souls suffering righteously for all eternity. He wanted something else: "_I want your strength, your happiness, your dreams, your passion..._". This made Peter to panic "Oh my God! He _is_ coming onto me!". The demon concluded "_I want your love_". "Aah! Sorry, but it can't be. You may be fine for a demon, I guess, but you are not my type. I think we should see other people. But I can friendzone you, if that's ok" said Peter, trying not to anger the demon. Instead, he confused him. "_'Not my type'? 'See other people'? 'Friendzone'? What kind of answer is…? Oh. I understand. How could I be so terribly misunderstood… look, kid, I'm not trying to seduce you. I may be the embodiment of all evil, but even I have standards._" "What is it, then, what you want? Speak plainly, please", replied Peter, with some relief. "_Very well_", explained the demon, "_you can enjoy your world as it is for as long as you can. For you'll only have it for one more day. You will not consciously remember this bargain or this moment. Or the life you lived to this point. But there will be a very small part of your soul that will remember. That will know what you lost. And my joy will be in listening to that part of your soul screaming throughout eternity. You have until 20:00, Eastern Standard Time, to say yes. At that instant you'll either lose your girlfriend or the world. Either way, the world you know, the world you care about and fought so hard to protect… will be at an end._"

Peter's mind raced with questions. "I understand. But before deciding anything, I want more info. You said that the world is about to end. Why? How? Who is behind it? You, or someone else?", he asked. "_Oh, don't get me started on that. The Ultimates brought Vision from the past to ask her the same question, and she had been hours explaining that. Hours that we don't have. Suffice it to say, there will be an incursion. The skies will turn red, and the earth of another alternate reality, the only alternate reality that still exists, will be seen in the sky. And a pair of hours later, they will both explode, along with their universes. There is nothing you can do to stop it. The greatest minds of both universes, including both Tony Starks and both Reed Richards, could not find any solution. And you are, your own words, just a small fry superhero_". That was disheartening, but at least Peter noticed something between the lines: that the Ultimates already know about this. He does not know who is Vision, but that does not matter, they are with someone who has info about what is going on. So he focused instead on the demon and his reasons. "There's a point I don't get. What about you, and whatever place you come from? If something is destroying all universes in existence, then your home dimension will be destroyed, too. And I'm sure that Hell can not exist in the void, it will require earth to exist, too. So why bother asking me this, then? You'll fight against this incursion anyway, whether I accept your bargain or not. I may not know the specifics of your motivations, but I'm sure that preserving your own existence motivates you just like us mortals." Peter thought that he had caught the demon doing a trick, cheating him to get an extra for doing something that he would do anyway. Things, however, were not so simple. "_Ah, what's puzzling you is the nature of my game. I don't have the power to stand against Rabum Alal. Not yet. But the love of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson is the rarest love of all. Pure, unconditional, and made holy in the eyes of He who I hate most. It is almost a constant in the universes, a beacon across realities. And to take it away from Him, to deny Him, is a victory like none other imaginable. Each time I destroy one of those manifestations of that love, my power grows. And with just one more of them, I will have the power to stop all this_." That was… a heavy burden. It truly means that the fate of the world rests on his shoulders. Still being a teenager, he gave in to a basic impulse in such circumstances: to cop out. "What about the Peter Parker of that other world? Why me, and not him?", he asked. "_He already accepted this bargain. Actually, it was a bargain to save his aunt May from a shot, but the result benefited me all the same_". Meaning: no. No cop outs. It's up to him. Only Peter Parker can decide.

The air grows grim and for a minute nothing else was said, as if the whole universe had stopped, awaiting his decision.

"No", he said.

"I am not Albert Einstein, Charles Xavier or Tony Stark, but there's something I understand here: if the demon exists, then God also exists. He has to. You casically spelled it out. Yes, I will try to save as much people as I can, and to stop whatever is happening if it is somewhat possible. I have always tried to do the right thing, to do the world a better place. But I have seen the horsemen, the rapture… what if this is really the end? If it is, that means that God have some plan for us. And who am I to help the Demon to spoil his plans? Just because of my selfish desire to live a little longer? No. I will not do this."

"_ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?" _shouted the demon._ "You dare say you are not being selfish? What about your precious Aunt May? She will die, just because you want to have a moral high ground!_". But Peter did not change his mind. "And let's say that I accept, the world is saved, and she lives. What next? How can I go to her and say with a straight face that she's alive because I sacrificed the love of my life to the Demon? She would hate me forever. I know her, she would prefer to die than have me accept this bargain on her behalf. She may even commit suicide out of repugnance about all this. And don't tell me that thing of making me forget about it, that's a cop out. If I murdered a man and then asked Charles Xavier to erase my memories of it, I would still be a murderer. So, no. I don't accept this bargain. I will solve this some other way. And if I can't… that's what God would have intended all along."

"_You can't reject this bargain!_" shouted the enraged demon. "_You can't! I won't let you!_". "You won't? This is my first time in this, but I suspect that you can't force me to this bargain. You need my consent, right? Right? So, if I say no, that's it." replied Peter. The demon was visibly angered and perturbed by the outcome. He finally came back to his senses. "_Very well. There won't be a bargain. However, the end is still coming. When you see it, perhaps you may be tempted to reconsider this. The proposal will still be open. Just say my name, and I will return_". But Peter reminded him that, during the whole discussion, he had never mentioned his name. "_Just call me Mephisto, 'cause I'm in need of some restraint. So if you meet me have some courtesy, have some sympathy, and some taste. Use all your well-learned politesse, or I'll lay your soul to waste_".

"_There's a final thing", _he added._ "After those meetings, the fools usually do not believe that it really happened. They prefer to think that it was all just a production of their warped minds. Oh, I love to see them torment themselves with doubt. But in this case, I need you to be sure that this night was real and not just fantasy. I will leave you with a reminder of it._" Peter asked if he was going to leave him a greeting card, but Mephisto just gave him a slasher smile and started to talk in Latin. "_**hic sapientia est qui habet intellectum conputet numerum bestiae numerus enim hominis est et numerus eius est sescenti sexaginta sex**_".

...and then, Peter suddenly woke up. "Peter!", shouted an alarmed Mary Jane, who was next to him. "You were having a nightmare! You came exhausted, but you kept doing violent moves and talking in your sleep. But don't worry, whatever it was, it is all over now!". He gave her a big hug, but he was not so sure. Was it really a dream? Mephisto warned that this would happen, and said that he would leave a "reminder". Then he suddenly released Mary Jane when he noticed that his right hand was marked, with a "666" number. It was as if he had been marked with a branding iron, like those used with cattle. For a moment he thought about making up some excuse, but quickly decided against it, and explained Mary Jane what had happened.

She gave him a passionate kiss, like she had never done before. She knew that she loved him, she knew that he loved her, but this was a completely new level. He defied the demon himself to protect their love. So she loved her like she had never done before. If this was truly the end, their love would not end with a whisper.

A pair of hours later, Peter Parker and Mary Jane were enjoying the sunset. Peter took a cross necklace and worn it, as a reminder of his decision. Somewhere else in the city, Miles Morales and aunt May were also watching the sunset. And then it happened. The sky turned red, and another earth was there, like a giant moon. It was, indeed, a sight to behold. But neither Mary Jane nor aunt May were afraid of it. Both said the same thing.

"Go get 'em, Tiger!"

And with that, both Spider-Men swing to the adventure, to the one that could very well be their last one.

_A flash of destruction_

_Like a blaze cut through the night_

_The heavens on fire_

_They were glowing in unholy light_

_Your sudden assault_

_Broke all the dreams of unification_

_The hunger for power_

_It's the lash of civilisation_

_Despaired and in pain - all seems so in vain_

_Fires in the sky_

_Defenceless we stand, tonight we will die_

_Shadows of the end_

_The Kingdom will fall, life will finally descend_

Iron Savior - "Atlantis falling"


	7. Time Runs Out

_You'll take my life, but I'll take yours too_

_You'll fire your musket, but I'll run you through_

_So when you're waiting for the next attack_

_You'd better stand there's no turning back_

_The bugle sounds as the charge begins_

_But on this battlefield no one wins_

_The smell of acrid smoke and horses breath_

_As you plunge into a certain death_

Iron Maiden - "The Trooper"

Finally, the day came. The sky over New York turned red, and a giant Earth was visible in the sky. There was a huge chaos in the streets, but the Ultimates had calculated it and stayed away from street level. Instead, they evacuated a strategically located building, and waited at the top. Hawkeye reminded Fury that they had started working together back in the Cold War, and that they were now leading a superhero group against the end of the world. Fury only allowed himself a brief smile. Hawkeye mentioned then that he was not sure about the plan. Wait the enemy in there? "What would you have me do?", asked Fury, "send all our helicarriers through the gate and start firing at everything that moves?". "Well… kinda. That would be initiative", replied Hawkeye. Fury stood a bit taller and quoted "'Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted. Therefore the clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy's will to be imposed on him'". "Wow!" replied Hawkeye, "what a phrase! Who said it? Was it cap?". Fury smiled and said "Sun Tzu, 'The Art of War'". Then he completed the idea. "When Vision explained the events at Earth-2, I paid full attention, not just to the incursions but also to valuable strategic information said between lines. And one thing I noticed is that they clearly outgun us. They have dozens, perhaps hundreds of metahumans, and their mutant community is still thriving; their attack power is clearly beyond ours, even in our heyday. And it's not just brute power: they still have their Captain America, they also have a Stark, their Peter Parker and Reed Richards are adult superheroes. No. If we attack them, they would obliterate us. So we'll wait, they will send a task force, and fall into our trap."

There was no need to wait too long. A group appeared soon: Iron Man, a man with wings dressed as Captain America, Hulk, Spider-Woman, Black Widow, Captain Marvel, a female Thor and the adult Spider-Man. They landed in the rooftop, as planned… and fell to the ground, like puppets who suddenly had their strings cut. Sue dropped then the invisibility field. "There are four females in this group", said Fury. "Jean, is any of them the one we need?". She said no.

"I guess that you came here expecting to have a big and grand fight, the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny. Well, we ain't having any of that nonsense," said Fury to the extradimensional heroes. "Ms. Jean Grey here has disabled your main motor skills, so you won't try anything funny. And you, Iron Man, don't bother trying to use your armor. We are inside a EMP area, one kilometer wide. Those kids below will not have their selfies with the incursion, but I'm not joking around here". "You think…" replied Iron Man, with visible difficulty to talk, "that by this stage of my career I don't know how to deal with an EMP?" "I'm sure you do… so this EMP was prepared by our own Tony Stark, specifically having your armor in mind", was Fury calm response. Hawkeye was disappointed, as he was expecting a fight. "Here's more Sun Tzu wisdom for you, Barton: 'the supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting'".

"Hey, Miles. Nice to meet you again", said the adult Spider-Man, "How have you been?". Miles pointed that things had not been easy lately, not with Galactus almost destroying the world, telling his father about his secret ID and now the incursions. "Ah, yes, end of the world and whatnot. I had Dr. Octopus living in my body for a time, but you beat me with that. I understand that your Nick Fury is calling the shots here, but can I ask you a little favor? I have a little itch on my left shoulder". "Sorry, Mr. Parker. As you said, Fury is in charge". They were interrupted by Captain America, who had fell next to Spider-Man. "Parker? Like your boss Peter Parker, the owner of Parker Industries? Hey, I didn't suspect it was you! I'm a big fan!". He only muttered "I hate this city!"

"But… we are not your enemies!" protested Iron Man to Fury from the ground. "We are not behind the incursions!". "Yes, I know, you are not the villains here, but we're not the Great Society either. We'll talk, but from a position of strength. We have been watching you, and we know of your failed attempts to save the multiverse." "Then, you must know that there is no hope! There's nothing that can be done!", said Stark, losing his patience. "Oh, there is something that can be done. We have a plan. It's a bit of a longshot, yes, but..." Fury could not end his explanation. "You do? You have a plan? What? What is it?" asked Stark. "We need someone from your dimension. She's called Miss America Chavez. Then…"

He could not continue. Suddenly, they saw the head of a blonde woman with blue lipstick. She said with a grave voice. "IRON MAN! CAPTAIN AMERICA! COME AT ONCE! IT HAS BEGUN! GALACTUS IS DEVOURING THE PLANET!". Vision looked to the other earth and confirmed it: "She's right. The great destroyer is there. He's on top of the Baxter building, preparing his machines to consume the planet. We do not have much time".

"But… that can not be!", replied a surprised Stark. "Galactus? Now? Why? But Pym told us that the Beyonders killed all the cosmic beings!" Fury also seemed to be troubled by this new development. "The why is clear, and it should be for you too. Galactus will try to consume your earth to destroy it, end the incursion and save your universe at the price of your planet. You had seen it at the world where you found Terrax. As for him being alive… perhaps you didn't know it, but your Wolverine caused a disaster by abusing of time travel, and that displaced your Galactus to our universe. We barely managed to get rid of him by moving him to the N-Zone. What happened after that, your guess is as good an mine, but I suspect that he survived in there the intergalactic genocide of his peers and then found a way back to his dimension." For a moment, he considered the options, and continued. "As Helmuth van Moltke put it, 'No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy'. This changes the whole situation. We can not allow your earth to be destroyed. Jean, release them. Stark, turn off the EMP. Now."

The heroes stood up, and Iron Man was visibly confused by this reaction. "I do not understand. This attack of Galactus was a stroke of luck for your universe. You just had to keep us contained, and let Galactus do your job for you. Why are you helping us?" Nick Fury look to the ground, with an ashamed face, and simply said "because I made a promise". But, before they could continue, they saw a projectile crashing over the building next block. It turned out it was Rick Jones, Captain Marvel. "Sorry, guys! I'm still training with planetary entry, I don't know how to get the right speed yet. But in a pair of weeks, top, I will manage to land perfectly, like a superhero!". All the Ultimate heroes facepalmed. "He's their Captain Marvel", mentioned Carol Danvers, who pointed the other "Earth-2" heroes that she had met him some months ago, and reminded them that their own Rick Jones wasn't the brightest bulb in the shed either. He said that the Watchers of the Universe sensed the upcoming crisis and sent him to Earth, but got lost in the way and arrived five months later than intended. Nick Fury called him apart and gave him some instructions, and Captain Marvel teleported somewhere else. Fury told then that they were ready, and both groups departed to the so called "Earth-2".

Pestered by super heroes, Galactus had summoned his army of "Punishers", his destructive robots, to keep them at bay. But this time he was not facing just the Fantastic Four like the first time he tried to consume the planet. Now, everybody was there: the Avengers, the X-Men, the Inhumans, the Young Avengers, the Fearless Defenders, the Avengers Academy, the Eternals, the Runaways, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and even superheroes that usually work alone, like Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and Punisher. A number of them, including ones who were returning from Earth-1, suddenly vanished in a flash of light, but the others kept fighting. The robots were thus destroyed after some minutes, and the superheroes started attacking him and his machines. Unfazed by the attacks, Galactus said "I have endured enough annoyance from you puny space insects. The time has come to rid myself of such petty nuisances. I can tolerate no further delays, for I have a cosmic time table to observe". And after saying that, he raised his hands to the sky. There was no energy attack from him, but his action became clear soon enough: he derailed the Moon from its orbit and attracted it to himself. Of course, it didn't reach the planet in one piece: first it was deformed by the tidal waves, and then broke in pieces once it crossed the Roche limit. But Galactus did not allow those pieces to drift into Earth's orbit and create a ring, and kept attracting them to himself. It would be a massive asteroid rain, destroying everything in a huge radius, and killing all the superheroes around him. But he was Galactus: he could easily be inside a star if he wanted to, so the asteroids would do nothing to him. Once it was done, he could proceed and destroy the rest of the planet at will.

And yet, there was a handful of survivors. Both teams were coming from the incursion portal while Galactus did this, and the Invisible Woman managed to protect a small area with her forcefield. She did it at random: she did not know anyone from this planet, nor had a lot a time to select. She managed to save some of the X-Men and the Guardians of the Galaxy, along with their equipment, but everything else as far as they could see, the once proud city of New York, was now a devastated wasteland.

"Oh, my stars and garters!" said Beast, "we would all be dead if Sue… wait a moment, you are not Sue! You are a lot younger than her!". The two teams arrived, and got immediately into business. "That's because I'm not the Susan Storm of this world, I'm from the world at the other side of the incursion. But there's no time for pleasantries. We have defeated this monster in our world some months ago, by opening a portal to the N-Zone and pushing him inside of it.", and she quickly started instructing him data for his machines to open the portal. The time-displaced X-Men already knew this other world, but the others were still puzzled by them. Still, no questions were asked, the disaster around them did not allow room for levities.

Back in Earth-1, a computer was suddenly activated. "Incursion in progress, 58% complete. Maker I is dead. Maker II is not here. Initiating project Liferaft." The City destroyed the buildings it had on top and floated like a massive ship, and headed to the incursion point. But Peter Parker, the original Spider-Man, was also there, as he was also going towards the incursion point. He only managed to say "what the…?" and clinged to the ship. Whatever was happening, whatever was going on, he thought, that ship had to be involved somehow, and he would have a chance to do something from it.

Sue could not end her instructions: most of the Ultimate heroes suddenly vanished in a flash of light, similar to the one that took the adult Spider-Man, Captain Marvel and some others some minutes earlier. Only the Falcon remained. Sue's help, however, was enough. Beast managed to figure out the missing parts, and opened the portal. But the suction force was not enough to get Galactus inside. Henry Pym decided that it was up to him to get Galactus inside the portal. Beast reminded him that it was not just a thing of size, that Galactus had massive cosmic powers, and Pym had just the amplified strength of a common man. But he insisted: if not him, who else? All the heroes outside the forcefield were dead. He approached Galactus thinking "this is my moment! This is what people will remember about me!". But things did not went the way he thought. When he got near Galactus, the cosmic monster turned and gave him a giant slap. From then on, it was clear that he was not going to be enough.

"Well, so much for that idea!", said a resigned Rocket. "I said that we shouldn't had come to this giant, stinkin' piece of garbage, but as usual, nobody cares about what I say". Falcon then had an idea. "Wait a moment... do you mean that you are aliens? And do you have a space ship?". "Of course we are aliens!" replied an angry Rocket. "What, do I look like a stinkin' human?". "Sorry, I'm from another universe, and I'm not sure what to expect. For all I know, you could be either a mutated human, or the emissary of a superior and enlightened alien race". Rocket suddenly smiled. "Ha! A superior alien race! I like this guy, y'all. Yes, if that's the way you want to spend your last moments, let's go and see the Milano, my space ship". So they teleported to the ship, that fortunately was stationed in a high orbit. Sam, however, was only interested in the propulsion systems, and the light-speed capabilities. Rocket explained that there was a system that increased the speed exponentially, and then another that made the jump to lightspeed. Sam already suspected it, but had another plan: to turn on the light speed mode right away. "Are you out of your flarkin' mind? Do you have any idea of what would happen if an object suddenly got into light speed like that? And here, still in a planetary area?" Yes, Sam had a very good idea of it. He aimed the ship to the portal, said "This is for Vision!" and turned it on. In an instant, Galactus and Pym were cut in half, and then sucked by the portal. The force of impact is (0. V2) / D, with M being the mass of the milano, D the distance between it and Galactus, and V... the speed of light. The force of impact of this solid object was in the thousands of millions of giganewtons, and not even Galactus could withstand that.

Nick Fury, Sue Storm, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Vision, Jean Grey, Kitty Pryde and Jimmy Hudson found themselves into the City, the great ship. Nick and Sue were furious, they had not ordered it to do this, and now it may have endangered everything. But the city insisted: the survival of the Maker and the City's experiments was of utmost importance, so it released a gas to render them all unconscious. It also released a wave that affected Vision's brain, causing a similar effect. The ship moved to the central area in the point between the incursions, were survival was most likely. The life raft of the Earth-2 Future Foundation did the same thing. Peter Parker was still clinging to the ship. And yes, he felt tempted to cry out "Mephisto!", and for a moment he thought he saw his red visage in the distance. Or was it just an optical illusion? Or a mere case of pareidolia? In any case, no sound came out of his mouth.

Galactus was finally defeated and the portal closed, but there was no time to celebrate: the incursion ended. A great white light consumed all. The Multiverse was destroyed. The last remaining universes collided. The heroes of Earth-1 and Earth-2 were powerless to stop it. The final incursion destroyed everything in existence.

Will silence set in?

Will existence begin again?

_From far beyond, the ending of all time_

_I saw the light, saving me from the night_

Iron Savior - "Prisoners of the void"

**The Ultimate heroes will return**


	8. Ainulindale

_The final seal was broken,_

_it opened up the gates_

_For the dark avengers,_

_their anger kills the light and then ..._

_I do not want my eyes to see,_

_I never wanted to believe_

_Take me to the gardens of the sinner,_

_Bury me and let me rest in peace_

_Now the time of truth has come for everyone_

_The fallen angel stands in victory_

Gamma Ray - "Gardens of the Sinner"

And there came a day, a day unlike any other, when a ship suddenly fell into an infinite desert plain. The people inside were unconcious, but slowly began to regain their senses. The AI of the ship did not say anything. In fact, nothing in the ship was active. They all saw the desert around them, and Tony Stark was the first to talk. "I don't want to sound cliche, but… 'Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore'". Nick Fury tried to figure out their current status: "Before we were captured, the incursions were about to destroy the only two universes still in existence. Wherever we are, it's good news; the universe has not been destroyed, or at least one of them is still here. Still, we need to know where we are, and what has happened". So Sue asked Vision about it. She got still while seeking information, and stayed that way.

"Why did she got frozen again?" asked Hawkeye, after half an hour. "This should have been an easy question. Where are we, and if it's our universe or the other. Why does it take so long?". Suddenly, Vision started talking again. "Tak3 me awa7… from the pla6e I'v3 b33n… t0 an0ther life… in an07her w0rl9… NO!" Her sudden scream took everyone by surprise, as she regained her senses. "Nicholas Fury is wrong. The incursion took place. Everything died. We're in a new world, created by Rabum Alal. He's the Dr. Doom of Earth-2. They have already sensed us, and they are coming our way." Nick Fury ordered then to leave the ship and escape, and place as much distance as possible between it and whatever was coming after them. Hawkeye protested the idea of leaving the ship behind, but Fury insisted. "We have already tried, this thing is dead as a rock. It will give us no advantage. Quite the contrary, it's like a huge 'We are here!' sign. We have to escape, and hope to find some other place where we can hide and plan our next move."

The Invisible Woman led the escape. Mounted on a big forcefield, they could escape without getting tired, and Iron Man would not waste his energy, that they did not know if he would be able to recharge it any time soon. Out of the ship, the idea of a hiding place seemed a bit remote: there was nothing but sand as far as they could see. No point discussing where to go, then: just in a straight line away from the ship, in whatever direction they took first. At some point, somewhere, they should find something. In the meantime, Vision explained the new world. "Make the people hold each other hands, and fill your hearths with truth. You made up your mind, so do as divined."

"In the end of all things, as in the begining, there was Yahweh, who in our Multiverse is called the One Above All. He was everything and everything was He, but not this time, as the multiversal death left him with a pretender, Victor Von Doom, imbued with the power of the Beyonders that he had slain. Doom was not expecting this meeting and asked, 'Who are you?'. '_I am who I am_' was the answer. '_I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Begining and the End_'. It echoed in the skies, and then there was silence. And it came to pass that Doom raised his fist to the skies and said 'That you say, voice, but I am DOOM. And I will not be denied! With this power I shall remake the world as I see fit, and I will be its god.' The One Above All made a final answer: '_I am the First and I am the Last. There is no God but me_'. And He did not say anything else."

"Still, Doom was not alone. The devil was there as well, arousing him with sweet words. He said '_There can be no denying it: You are supreme. Anything you wish to be, you are. Anything you wish, is. Nothing in this universe dares challenge that claim. There be only one word to describe you… God. Within your grasp rest the infinite. My humble personage bows before your grandeur. I am proud to be your first acolyte and bask in the glory of your divine presence. How may I serve you, great Doom?_' Doom listened in silence, with clenched fists, and when the devil was done, he caught him by the neck. He had no fear of him, and hated him with a passion. 'Do you take me for a fool, Mephisto? Did you thought I forgot what you once did to my mother? I could terminate you with but a thought, but that would be too easy. No, I will destroy your precious Hell instead. You will live, but like a vagrant without home, wandering around the prime reality. You'll soon wish I had killed you!'. Doom sensed the realm of Mephisto, and with but a snap of his fingers, he destroyed it. And when he got rid of Mephisto, Doom was alone, with only the void before him"

"And then Doom saw the void. There was nothing. Followed by everything. Doom created the light. Then there was Earth. The firmament cooled and he raised up a land. His holy land. The world. Battleworld. He recreated Doomstadt as his seat of power, but he was alone. He restored Dr. Strange and the Molecule Man, who stood next to him against the Beyonders, to life. Despite his evil ways, Doom had an uneasy friendship with Stephen Strange. The Molecule Man looked up to Doom, but he was the actual power of the Beyonders in human form. Longing for more company, and as a result of his hatred for Reed Richards, Doom recreated the Richards family, making them his own. Susan Storm was now his wife, and Franklin and Valeria were now his sons. But he still felt the world to be a vast emptiness. He could create people to rule, as he created his family, but it would be long and time consuming. And such creations would not have free will. Strange and the Molecule Man had it because they were with Doom in the multiversal end and he simply restored them to life. Susan Franklin and Valeria had it as well, but it took him a long and detailed work to create them that way. He could not create masses of people with free will in a quick manner, and he would get no satisfaction from ruling a hive."

"This free will made Franklin and Valeria as curious and craving for knowledge as their original counterparts. They wanted to know about the nature of the universe, that Doom had kept from them, and discovered the remains of Yggdrasil, the tree of life. With it, they found the remains of the Badlands, a dimension where most supervillains joined forces and killed all superheroes in a combined swift attack. It was not the whole dimension or earth, just a small portion of it. Doom was intrigued by the discovery, but did not want to recreate the multiverse. Instead of that, he took this territory and brought it to Battleworld. He did the same with other similar discoveries. This is, then, a patchwork planet, made by remains of several alternate dimensions that now co-exist in a same physical planet. "

"And so, Doom recreated those ruins into working and functional domains, largely similar to the worlds they used to be located in. He also restored their populations, people similar to those who used to live in there, but who ignore about their previous life, the incursions or the death of their universes. They all think that they have always lived on Battleworld, that Doom has always been their God, and that they never had an existence other than this one. There is, in fact, a Kingdom of Manhattan with such copycats of most of us. Most of those domains have a baron or baroness, who rules over them, while still being subject to Doom. Some domains, however, and completely anarchic and Doom preferred to leave them that way, without appointing a ruler. Three domains, Deadlands, Perfection and New Xandar, are too dangerous for the others and are kept behind a giant shield. Doom kept restoring dead worlds as Battleworld domains for a long time, secretly hoping to find a reality with a Reed Richards he could torment, but never found any."

"He also created his own police force, the Thors. Most realities, including ours, had only one Thor; Doom made instead an army with several ones, recruited from the domains and all with their own Mjolnir. They act as his messengers and enforcers. For example, he has sent them against the two ships from the old multiverse that have appeared on Battleworld".

The heroes were hearing this narration silently, making no comments or observations. That last point, however, took them by surprise. "A second ship? Where…?". But they could not discuss about this. A hammer suddenly fell from the sky, smashing Sue's forcefield and throwing everyone aside. They looked to the sky, and saw an army of Thors swarming to their location.

_The bridge appears, I jump into the dark side_

_And hear the voice it's cold as ice "Welcome to reality"_

_Where am I now? Darkness surrounds. Can't go forward, can't go back._

_I see planets dying, I fall into the light_

_A new universe awakes, I'm a Traveler in Time_

_Pray for the light_

_Where's the key to the gate of a new life - no_

_I search for deliverance, but I cannot find_

_Look behind the mirror, I'm lost in the twilight hall_

_Once I'll be back for a moment in time, That's when the mirror's falling down_

Blind Guardian - "Lost in the Twilight Hall"


	9. The Breaking of the Fellowship

_Legends spreading like wildfire of his mighty deeds_

_Roaming through the lands and oceans like a fiery breeze_

_Once he's got the taste of you there's no turning back_

_Brace yourselves to be consumed, for now he will attack_

_Bastard son of Odin, born to kick your ass_

_Bastard son of Odin, living hard and driving fast_

_Bastard son of Odin, sworn to fight and die_

_Bastard son of Odin, to Valhalla soon will ride_

Battle Beast - "Bastard son of Odin"

The heroes reacted to the attack immediately. Iron Man, Jean Grey and Storm fly above the ground, with Iron Man firing at the Thors, Storm summoning thunderbolts and Jean trying to cloud their perceptions. Vision could not do much but thought that each Thor that threw a Mjolnir at her and phased through her intangible body would be a Thor that was not attacking the others. Kitty saw it and did the same, trying to call their attention, but also trying to make it seem as if she eluded the Mjolnirs rather than phase throw them, so they would keep trying. She knew that it was a diversion at best and that they would not win the fight that way, but she had no idea how else to fight against an army of Thors. Not yet, as least. Rogue touched one of the Thors that got to ground level and got his strength. Not a Mjolnir, and no power to fly, and she was one against a horde, but it was something. Spider-Woman knew that her powers were useless in this fight, so she stayed in the defensive, trying to elude the attacks as quickly as she could. She could do it better than Kitty, even with no buildings or structures around to swing from, but knew that she had no phasing powers and could not allow herself the luxury of a single mistake: just one Mjolnir that gets to her, and she would be done for. Miles Morales knew this and stayed close in the fight. He could approach the Thors in his invisible mode and then release his venom attack, and take down the ones that got too close to Jessica. They were not related but they were like a little brother and his big sister, and he wouldn't let anything bad happen to her. Jimmy Hudson, Dagger and Bombshell attacked the ones that got to ground level, and Nick Fury and Hawkeye fired their weapons against the Thors while Sue protected the level ground team with her forcefields.

"We can't win this fight, Stark! We need some way to leave, and pronto!", shouted Fury during the action. "That won't be easy, Nick!", replied Stark. "They have an armor Thor, a storm Thor, a tree Thor, a horse Thor, a frog Thor, and… Thor". Iron Man hesitated for a moment when he saw him. It was Thor. Not a weird, bizarre alternate version of Thor from some unknown alternate dimension. It was Thor, "his" Thor, the one he knew since the fight against Hulk in New York. The one that got lost in the N-Zone during the fight with Galactus, some months before the incursions. The one that he had to left in that dimension by closing the gate, to make sure that Galactus would not return. And it was not either an alternate version that looked just like him: it was him. Stark knew it.

Thor, however, did not recognize him, and shouted "Surrender, varlet! Your time of reckoning is at hand!". "Hey! We had a deal! I said that I would donate a big sum of money to a charity if you stopped talking like 'Shakespeare in the park'! Talk like a normal person, I know you can!". But Thor kept fighting. "Thou talk in riddles, armored one! Verily, doomsday is upon thee!". Fortunately, Jean Grey noticed the conflict, surprised Thor from behind and used her mental powers on him. Thor resisted, but suddenly his facial features relaxed. "Tony! I can't believe this! I thought I would never see you again! What are you doing here in Battleworld?". Iron Man, however, was still firing at the other Thors. "That's kinda a long story, and it's not a good moment for it. All those other yous are overwhelming us!". Thor quickly understood the situation and overcame the confusion caused by suddenly remembering his former life, and placed himself between the Thors and his friends. The Thors stopped fighting for a moment.

"Brothers, stop this! Those are not heretics! Those are my friends! They come from a long lost realm, as I do! They are survivors and need our help and shelter, not the might of our hammers!". The Thors, however, kept a hostile expression. Thor insisted. "You are all Thor… and deep inside, under Doom's magic, you know it! Maybe you don't remember, but you can feel it! There's a spirit in you, of honor, of unswerving loyalty to the cause of freedom, for all men, everywhere! You have lived that spirit, fought for it, upheld it every day of your lives! Don't let Doom blind you to it! Open yourselves to that spirit, to feel what you know to be true! You can find it within you again, I know you can!". None of them looked as if they had changed their opinion a little bit, but it was hard to be sure, as some of them had faces too alien to emote the way humans would do. The one with a horse face made a step forward, but Rune Thor did so as well and placed himself at the front. "Thunderer Thorlief, thou are speaking heresy. And this is known by thee. But thou are a fellow Thor. I have seen that thy mutie did something to thine head, so I'm willing to let this slide. Just move aside, and let us deal with those heretics". Thor refused to do so, raised his hammer and cried "Well, as Cap once said, 'No, _you_ move!"

All the Thors attacked Thor together, who holds his ground as best as he could. "Friends! You must leave, now! Go now, while I keep them here! There's no other way!". Most of them were willing to join the fight, but Nick Fury stopped them. "No. He's right. Just Thor alone can defeat all of us. He already did in the past. We have no hope against an army of Thors. Not even Thor himself, for simple numerical reasons. We won't achieve anything staying." They were turning, but Iron Man refused to go. "NO! You are right, Fury, but I won't leave Thor alone to his death! Not a second time! Take all the others to safety, I will stay with Thor and join his fate, whichever it may be!". He flew away from the group and joined Thor, back-to-back against the other Thors. "Well met, brother! Forever we're fighting the world, side by side! If the good Captain could be with us…". "He is. In spirit".

The other heroes ran away, taking advantage of the fight. They did not get far. Spider-Man and Spider-Woman suddenly disappeared in thin air. The others were still surprised, unsure of what to make of it, when suddenly someone fell from the sky. It was not a Thor, it was like a girl, but with a body that looked like a piece of heaven. She laughed, as if she had heard a joke, and vanished again. Susan Storm, Hudson, Pryde, Hawkeye, Dagger, Bombshell, Rogue and Storm disappeared as well.

Only Nick Fury, Vision and Jean remained. They fly away, with Jean carrying Fury, but knew that it was useless: they had no chance to outrun the Thors. Soon they would subdue Thor and Iron Man, and then they would get them. "A vehicle!", thought Nick Fury, "I would sell my soul for a vehicle!". And suddenly, the background became motionless, the air turned dark and red, and there was a smell of sulfur. Mephisto shows up again "_Well, that can be arranged!_". Vision recognized him instantly. Nick Fury did not, but it was clearly a demon, he did not need anyone to draw him a map. Jean Grey tried to read his mind, but it was of no use. "_So, Nicholas Fury, I couldn't help but notice your little predicament. You are clearly in need of a vehicle. Are you willing to barter for it?_". He had his doubts about the proposal. Although he had no previous encounters with this kind of beings, he was savvy enough to realize that a deal with the devil was something that should be avoided. But, on the other hand, they were indeed in a predicament. They were in the middle of a seemingly endless desert, with an army of Thors, nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide. No resources to exploit, no safe haven to reach, and no cavalries that could be reasonably expected to come to their rescue. And even worse, most of his team vanished in unknown circumstances. He had no chance but to accept. He thought that Mephisto would want his soul for it. "_Ha! Really, Fury? With all the dark things you have done over the years… killings, sabotages, deals, manipulations, secrets, secrets within secrets… do you really think you can trade your soul with me? You didn't think that I will already own your soul as is once you die?_" Fury protested that the things he had done, he done them in the service of his country, but Mephisto dismissed it: "The road to hell is full of good intentions. No, I do not want your soul. I know that your universe has been destroyed and that you will try to recreate it. Well, as payment for my help, I want my domain, Hell, to be recreated as well." It was a big pill to swallow. Hell itself was destroyed… and he would help to recreate it? "Very well. I accept". Mephisto smiled with glee and summoned a Ghost Rider motorbike. Besides being fast, while Fury and his companions were sitting over it they would be completely invisible to the power of Doom; either Doom himself or his servants. Fury pointed that the Ultimates once fought against a "Ghost Rider", that Mephisto confirmed to be his own, so Fury requested to avoid having physical changes as part of the deal, such as a flaming skull. Mephisto did not like the request, but agreed: getting Hell back would be worth it.

Time resumed its normal flow. The Thors defeated and subdued Thor and Iron Man, While Nick Fury, Jean Grey and Vision ride away from them, completely undetectable. Somewhere somehow, they would find a way in this alien world to restore their dead world, and fulfill their destiny.

_Time to burn, you losers better learn_

_No one controls our goddamn lives_

_We'll do just what we feel riding horses made of steel_

_We're here to burn up the night_

Manowar - "Return of the Warlord"


	10. Warriors of Battleworld United

_I'm waiting in my cold cell when the bell begins to chime_

_Reflecting on my past life and it doesn't have much time_

_'Cause at 5 o'clock, they take me to the Gallows Pole_

_The sands of time for me are running low…_

Iron Maiden - "Hallowed by thy name"

Thor and Iron Man were secured with uru chains and brought to Doomgard as prisoners. They marched through the halls and corridors, defeated, with their hands tied and surrounded by Thors. They knew that fighting now would be futile and would not end any differently to their first one, so they saved their strength and tried to rest by walking, hoping that they may get a chance later on. Old Thor was waiting on a throne at the Hall of Homicide, with stairs leading to it. "Thunderer Thorlief, also known as Ultimate Thor, you are here because you committed heresy. You protected heretics and claimed yourself a heretic as well." Iron Man tried to say something but was quickly silenced by one of the Thors. Thor walked the stairs to the throne and stayed a few steps above, so that everyone could see him. "Brothers, I am calling from the Valley of the Kings, with nothing to atone. I will make my defense. But we are not lawyers with crackerjack clothes! We're warriors, warriors of Battleworld! Like thunder from the sky, sworn to fight and die, we're warriors, warriors of Battleworld! Let me tell you the tale of my world, and then decide if we're worthy! What say you?". Old Thor was about to protest, but the Thors agreed to it. Having lived with them for years, Thor knew that if there was something they could not resist, it was an epic.

Thor and Iron Man were released from their chains but knew that it was not wise to try any attack. Thor did not intend to do that, anyway. He raised his hammer high and started his narration.

"Here to the Triskelion, I wander. Through this black night, I ponder. The head of our mighty hammers, did clash. Fallen by our axes, Hulk's smashed!"

"Glory and fame, Ultimate is our name. Souls full of thunder. Hearts of steel. Killers of men, on Ultimatum's end, sworn to avenge our fallen brothers, to the end!"

"One day, too, I may fall. I will enter Odin's Hall. I will die, hammer in hand. My name and my deeds will scorch the land"

"Glory and fame, Ultimate is our name. Souls full of thunder. Hearts of steel. Killers of men, on Ultimatum's end, sworn to avenge our fallen brothers"

"Sons of the gods, today we shall die, open Valhalla's door. Let the Cataclysm begin, with hammers in the wind. Hail, gods of waaaaaar!"

"Sons of Odin, we all, by the hammer of Thor, ride down from the sky. A spider is born, another shall fall. This day heroes will die!"

At this point, all the Thors (even Old Thor) were enjoying the narrations and joined it in a massive chorus, and the hall turned into a cacophony of fists, hammers, swords, maces, chains and beer mugs raised to the air.

"GLORY AND FAME, ULTIMATE IS OUR NAME. SOULS FULL OF THUNDER, HEARTS OF STEEL. KILLERS OF MEN, ON ULTIMATUM'S END, SWORN TO AVENGE OUR FALLEN BROTHERS"

"SONS OF THE GODS, TODAY WE SHALL DIE, OPEN VALHALLA'S DOOR. LET THE CATACLYSM BEGIN, WITH HAMMERS IN THE WIND. HAIL, GODS OF WAR!"

"SONS OF THE GODS, TODAY WE SHALL DIE, OPEN VALHALLA'S DOOR. LET THE CATACLYSM BEGIN, WITH HAMMERS IN THE WIND. HAIL, GODS OF WAR!"

"LET THE CATACLYSM BEGIN, WITH HAMMERS IN THE WIND. HAIL, GODS OF WAR!"

"HAAAIIIIIIL"

"GOOOOODS"

"OF"

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!"

And all Thors rejoiced. A satisfied Thor told Stark "Ha! If Ragnar Lothbrock could see me now!". Tony was a bit confused by all this. "That was… a weird speech, to say the least. But I don't question the results". "Ha! A speech? That was a Heavy Metal song, with the lyrics slightly changed to fit our needs! And which Viking brethren with blood in his veins can resist a song of Manowar?" Then he addressed the Thors again. "Listen, brothers! This is Iron Man, my brother in arms! Together we fought several battles and vanquished several fools!" The Thors, still enthusiastic, hailed him. "Before you found him, he has been in the Green Lands!" Iron Man was about to protest that he had not been in any such place, but Thor ignored him and continued. "And he fought several Hulks! And you know what they told him? You know what were they saying about you, my brothers? These guys called you sissy boys, buddies. You really gonna let them get away with that?"

A thunderous "NO!" cried out in unison filled the hall. "So sound the death tone on our march for revenge! Spill the blood of our enemies, the oath a friend! Fight the holy war for the crown and the ring! Six magic rivers were made by the blood of the Red King! Wherever we ride, it's metal we bring! Thor King of Metal, Thor Metal King! Death to the false ones, dance on a string, 'till the blood on your sword is the blood of the Red King, 'till the blood on your hand is the blood of the Red King!"

All the Thors marched out of the hall, hammers in hand, ready to punish the Hulks for their insolence. How proud those soldiers stand, with mace and shield in hand. Horns sound the charge, into glory ride, over the top of the vanquished pride. Iron Man was about to go as well, but Thor placed his hand over his shoulder. "Now, Tony. This is our moment. They have completely forgotten about us." And then he understood. The Thors were never going to hear their pleas of innocence or hear their story about the multiverse, so he did not try it a second time. Instead, he misdirected them to a wild goose chase, allowing them to escape. But when they were sneaking away, they found Beta Ray Thor, the one with a face that looked like a horse's skull. "This won't end like the last time", said Iron Man. "Now it's two against one, not two against two dozens". But Thor calmly lowered Iron Man's hand and asked his companion to explain himself. "You were right before, in the desert. I remembered my old life. I remembered my name, not Beta Ray Thor, but Beta Ray Bill. I remembered the Korbinites, the Thor of my world, and how his Asgard helped me, welcomed me as one of their own, and even granted me a similar hammer. I know now that this world is a mockery, created somehow by Dr. Doom. But if I joined you then, we would have been three prisoners instead of two. I was looking for a chance to free you, but I did not expect that you could do it yourselves. But promise me that if our worlds are restored, you'll talk to me about this "Manowar". Iron Man had his doubts, couldn't he be still working for Doom? But Beta Ray Bill did not answer, because Thor answered first: if he was really still loyal to Doom, he would have revealed the ruse when the Thors were still leaving, instead of letting them go and risk a fight of one against two. He also reminded him that, although he had suddenly remembered his true life, he still remembered the life that he had been living in Battleworld so far: he knows Beta Ray Bill, and knows that he can be trusted.

Unsure of the whereabouts of the other heroes, the three flew to the location of the battle. It was unlikely for them to still be there, but they did not really have any other ideas of where to look. And no, there was nobody there. Thor and Beta Ray Bill discussed the nearby domains, trying to guess in which of them they may be, until Iron Man detected a wanderer, far away from them, almost at the line of the horizon. This made no sense, what could a wanderer possibly be doing there? Where did he come from? It was worth checking. They landed next to him, asked him if he needed any help… and they were thunderstruck when he turned to them.

It was Peter Parker.

H_e's walking like a small child_

_But watch his eyes burn you away_

_Black holes in his golden stare_

_God knows he wants to go home_

_Children of the damned_

_He's walking like a dead man_

_If he had lived he would crucified us all_

_Now he's standing on his last step_

_He thought oblivion? Well, it beckons us all_

_Children of the damned_

Iron Maiden - "Children of the damned"


	11. A-Force's last stand

_Brave, brave new world_

_Of biogenetic design_

_Where the perfect people live perfect lives_

_And individuals get pulverized_

_Brave, brave new world_

_Where mankind is down on its knees_

_To the masterplan of insanity_

_Slaves of science in agony_

_Brave, brave new world_

Iron Savior - "Brave New World"

**Six months ago, in the domain of Arcadia**

Arcadia was a paradise, an utopia in Battleworld. A prosperous and magnificent white city with towers that reached the sky, with silver mountains behind and large plains and a raging sea at the door. It was populated only by women, their geneticists had managed to inseminate women with artificial spermatozoa, so men were not needed in this society. They all respected their powerful leader, Baroness Thundra. She was nominally under the command of God Doom, but usually Sheriff Strange and the Thors had no business with Arcadia, which was left to rule itself as it saw fit. Arcadia was protected by its own superhero group, A-Force, also led by Thundra. She-Hulk and Titania were married and had two adoptive daughters, America Chavez and Nico Minoru; the four of them were in the group. Other members were Captain Marvel, Jessica Jones, Victorious, Power Princess, the Battle Beast, Hawkeye, Medusa, X-23.

A-Force was patrolling around Arcadia, until a sudden disaster took place. A Megalodon, the most dangerous predator of history, an extinct shark from the Miocene Epoch, suddenly jumped from the ocean to A-Force. It was easily defeated, but then America Chavez threw it away with her super-strength. It passed the border of the domain and damaged the shield. Sam Wilson, one of the Thors, showed up immediately. "America Chavez. It grieves me that you have violated Battleworld's greatest laws. You have breached the shield and endangered everyone under its protection. And worse, you have forsaken the sanctity of Doom's borders". They tried to explain that it was not a big deal, just a teenager reacting without thinking, but Sam Wilson refused to hear anything of that. Thundra pleaded to Sheriff Strange for Chavez, to no avail: the law is the law, it is absolute, final and will brook no exceptions. The other Thors teleported there as well and executed America Chavez. Thundra and A-Force could not do anything but watch. The Thors left, satisfied that the law of Doom had been enforced without problems. Thundra and A-Force, on the other hand, were left in mourning.

**Now**

Nico Minoru was still mourning the death of her sister when she suddenly saw a shooting star in the sky. She thought that she had somehow returned to life and ran to the site of the impact, but instead of Chavez, she found several strangers. A laughing girl whose whole body was made of stars and many other people she had never seen. There were two men among them, which made it clear that those were not people from Arcadia that she had not met before. Then the laughing girl laughed again, and disappeared with Jimmy Hudson, leaving the others there. The rest of A-Force showed up immediately, to see what was happening. They were intrigued by the new Hawkeye: the only men they had ever seen were Sheriff Strange and the Thors, who were always powerful and distant. They had never seen a man like them, close and personal. Hawkeye felt important when he realized that he was the only man in the whole domain, but it didn't last: he noticed that A-Force considered him just a lower counterpart of their own Hawkeye, Kate Bishop. Still, she was a fellow archer, so they got along well. Captain Marvel felt a huge loneliness in Rogue and tried to open herself to her and take her as a friend. Battle Beast thought that the best one was Bombshell: she disliked her white jacket, preferring her own black leather one, but her explosions were awesome! She was so looking forward to a team-up with the newcomer. Then she saw Storm, with her mohawk and her military clothes, and immediately added her to the team-up. Jessica Jones disliked all of them, but it was not personal: she dislikes everyone. Still, when she heard Dagger cursing, she thought that at least not all of them were hopeless cases. Sue Storm was intrigued by Arcadia's advanced knowledge in genetics and the functionality of a society composed only by women, so Zarda, the Power Princess started explaining things to her. Thundra thought that Kitty Pryde was the leader of this band, so she started talking with her. Kitty was in turn interested in X-23, as she remembered when a similar mutant displaced from her universe met them.

The pleasantries did not last long. A portal opened, and Sam Wilson showed up. Thundra, whose face denoted a lot of suppressed rage, only said "You…". Sam Wilson ignored it and proceed. "Thundra, Baroness of Arcadia, we have realized that a number of fugitives of Doom's justice have taken refuge in your domain. By virtue of the authority vested in me, I demand you to surrender them, right now". Everyone fell in silence. Thundra step to him, making it clear for everyone that she was way taller than him. "What did you just say, little man?" "I said… that, by the authority vested in me…" She did not allow him to continue. It was a rhetorical question, after all. "And then what? You will execute our new friends? Just as you executed America Chavez those months ago?" Sam Wilson was a Thor, not easily intimidated. "The law of Doom is absolute. The law of Doom is final. All the God-King Doom requires is this: the outlaws. A token of Arcadia's submission to the will of Doom." Thundra grabbed her chains with higher strength, mussing "submission…", and walked towards him, forcing him to walk backward. "Submission? SUBMISSION? You think this letter in my belt stands for "Traitor"?" Medusa warned Thundra to stay diplomatic, but she was ignored. Sam reached the edge of the cliff and stopped. He warned "Choose your next words carefully, Thundra of Arcadia. They may be your last, as Queen". She grabbed him from the neck in response. "You killed America Chavez, one of us. You threaten us with slavery and death. Oh, I have chosen my words carefully, Thor. Perhaps you should have done the same". Sam Wilson was visibly confused. "But… but… you can't defy the will of Doom! This… this is blaphemy! this is madness!". She gave him a slasher smile, and said "Madness? No". Shouting "THIS….!", she attacked his arm, forcing him to drop his hammer. Shouting "IS….!", she ripped the wings from Sam Wilson's suit. And shouting "ARCADIA!" she kicked him, forcing him to fall to his death from one of the higher levels of the city. And Sam Wilson, of the Thors, died.

And then, Medusa steps in, another greedy, rotten puppet on a string, who took Thundra with her prehensile hair. "This is completely unacceptable. You are endangering us all. You will call Sheriff Strange, now, and beg for his mercy. Do your duty, Thundra, or I'll do it for you". After saying this, she got two arrows in the chest. "Straight through the heart!", shouted Battle Beast, celebrating Kate Bishop's aim, and then threw X-23 with their "Fastball Special". She cut Medusa's hair with her claws before she could react, releasing Thundra, and then She-Hulk and Titania ripped her in half. In a moment, they were all covered in the blood of her corpse. The ultimate heroes, mostly uninvolved with the whole thing, stood aside and got surprised by the savagery of the attacks. Clearly, the loss of America Chavez was a deep blow for A-Force.

And now? It was clear that things would have not end there; in fact, this could only be the beginning of greater hostilities. So far, the ultimate heroes were just escaping from the Thors but still hoped that they could clarify things. Now Singularity left them at a safe haven, but they found themselves caught in an open war between Battleworld factions. A war that will only escalate and give no quarter, as one of the Thors had been killed. Still, how could they simply go away and left A-Force on their own in the upcoming fight? Thundra killed that Thor and started the war on their behalf. And one of their own had been executed some months ago, because of some arbitrary laws. Executed. Who couldn't sympathize with their plight? And even more, that precedent gave poor hopes for them if the Thors got them, even if they had been captured in the desert without ever meeting A-Force.

But at least they had A-Force with them. A full superhero team of really powerful women. That's got to count for something, right? Right? Victorious did not have much hope. "Our enemy is ready, his full strength gathered. Not only Thors but several other monsters and creatures as well. An army so massive it shakes the ground with its march, so vast it drinks the rivers dry. Their hordes are on their way to pillage, burn and plunder, all shall answer Doom's call. This will be the end of Arcadia as we know it. Here the hammer stroke will fall hardest. And Doom has yet to reveal his deadliest servant, the one who will lead his armies in war. The one they say no living man from all Battleworld can kill. The King of All Evil."

The sky, bright and shiny up to that point, suddenly became cloudy and dark, but as Victorious pointed, it was no weather of the world. It was a dark cloud sent by the Enemy to darken hearts and counsel. A storm was coming. The absence of sunlight was even darker in Battleworld as it would be on Earth, as there were no stars in the sky. A-Force only had some minutes before the whole Thor army showed up. Battle Beast raged "Tonight our warriors scream Justice and Metal, Justice and Metal!". A-Force united at the top of the city and defied the heavens with their battle hymns.

"We are an ass-kicking band

Led by Thundra the Tall

United we stand under our flag

Into battle we bring the storm"

"We are the Death of the battlefield - We will return

Death of the battlefield - Victorious

Death of the battlefield - We are the Band of A-Force"

"Our enemies now fall we're marching tall

Over their bodies and bone

No matter how strong those castles of stone are

We shall conquer them all"

"We are the Death of the battlefield - We will return

Death of the battlefield - Victorious

Death of the battlefield - We are the Band of the Hawk"

"I, I shall die with A-Force by my side

I will not betray I'll stay to the end - To the end!"

"We are the Death of the battlefield - We will return

Death of the battlefield - Victorious

Death of the battlefield - We are the Band of A-Force"

"We are the Death of the battlefield - Death of the battlefield

Death of the battlefield - Death of the battlefield

Death of the battlefield - We are the Band of A-Force

We are the Band of A-Force

We are the Band of A-Force

Yes, We are the Band of A-Force"

And not a moment too soon. Several portals opened as soon as A-Force ended their hymn. Thors came down from the sky.

Extermination has begun.

"_War and anger shall reign_

_The clash of iron can be heard_

_By blindness you're driven insane_

_I'm lost in anguish and grief_

_Sorrow won't wane 'til you die_

_A shattered body deeply hurt_

_And darkness will cover the light_

_It's gone forevermore"_

Blind Guardian - "Battlefield"


	12. And then there was silence

_You won't hear me, But you'll feel me_

_Without warning, something's dawning, listen._

_Then within your senses,_

_You'll know you're defenseless_

_How your heart beats, when you run for cover_

_You can't retreat, I spy like no other._

Judas Priest - "Turbo Lover"

Nick Fury, Vision and Jean Grey crossed the desert of Utopolis at high speed, cloaked in the Ghost Rider bike. Still, they could only tell their speed when looking at the ground below them. The landscape was a silent infinite desert as far as they could see, and despite the hours, nothing had changed. Nick Fury thought that they needed to find at least a cave where to stay for the night. Then he corrected himself: who said that the night and day cycle would take 24 hours in this strange new world? Or that there would be a night at all? If it was designed by a human then it would make sense, but he couldn't take it for granted. In any case, it was speculation, and he said nothing about it.

Eventually, Vision saw something. There was a small group of people gathered in a distant valley, and noises of fighting. People… that was definitely worth checking out. Still, Fury appreciated the advantage of being cloaked, so he gave strict instructions: they would park the motorbike and stay on it, and not make any sound. Not before they saw and listened to those people for some minutes and could decide if they were friends or enemies. Fortunately, Jean's power allowed them to dialogue with thoughts, without speaking up.

They got near and saw a battle going on. It was another group of Thors, fighting against other heroes. They recognized Captain Marvel, the adult Spider-Man and the female Thor, they were the ones in the scout team they met during the incursion. There was a man they did not meet, and Nick Fury recognized the one in the black catsuit: he looked and fought like Black Panther, and although he was not mute like the one he knew, he was sure that it was the doppelganger from Earth-2. Similarly, there was a bearded one who could stretch himself: he was clearly Reed Richards, the one that grew into an adult and never became the Maker. Fury did not recognize the other, but Jean did: it was Scott Summers. She had mixed feelings about him: she knew that it was not his Scott and that he killed his own Charles Xavier, but it was still him, she could not bring herself to hate him. And someone else was overseeing the Thors from a short distance, without involving himself in the battle, seeming conflicted about it. Neither Fury nor Jean recognized him, but Vision knew him: he was Dr. Strange. Who had styled himself "Sheriff Strange" in this new reality, as the right-hand man of Doom.

Jean insisted that they should reveal themselves and join the fight, but Fury refused. He insisted that they should stay concealed and see. What if their help was not enough, the Thors won anyway, and captured them all? Hidden, they could at least follow and help to free them in some covert action. So, they kept watching, while the Earth-2 heroes and the Thors fought an evenly matched fight. Fury instructed her to check the thoughts and memories of as many people as she could, on both sides; any information could be useful.

The fight was suddenly interrupted. A man in white armor suddenly appeared. Nobody needed explanations: that was Dr. Doom, the God emperor of this world. The Thors ceased fighting and awaited new orders, and the heroes ceased the fight as well. Fury, Jean and Vision stayed motionless, not even talking telepathically to each other. Doom broke the silence and said "Richards!", with a voice that denoted his great authority.

Reed Richards step forwards without fear and said "So, it's true. It really is you, isn't it, Victor? It's amazing. An artificial construct of reality. A world where there should be nothing. Look at what you've made". Doom, secure in his power and achievements, boasted "Yes, I did what you and all your ilk could not. I saved the unsavable in the face of total annihilation. I am a miracle worker, but here you are, so you must be as well". Reed pointed "We built a ship. All we saved was ourselves. I can't help but notice you decided to put yourself on a throne". Spider-Man made a joke, which was ignored by Doom. "A throne? I've had a throne for quite some time. A throne was my birthright. I've placed myself a good bit higher than that. I AM GOD."

Doom then exploded the ground below everyone. Even Fury, Vision and Jean were caught in the blast but managed to stay on top of the motorbike. "I understand this must be confusing for all of you, but take heart, for while I am mighty, I am also merciful. I will give you a moment to… readjust your old ways of thinking. Then you'll bend your knee and bow your head at my feet. Believe in me… for this world is mine".

It was not Reed who reacted first, but Cyclops, suddenly shinning inside a bird of flames. "I do not need a moment. And I do not need your mercy. For holding a thing, shaping a thing, does not make it yours forever. Things change, they, evolve. The future can not be denied. In the end, you're just like every other man. For a time, playing at something greater than what you are. And I? I am mutant, more than man. I am the future here in the present. And all worlds, even yours, belong to us. This planet is ours. This planet is mi… urk!".

He could not continue. Doom got through his flames and grabbed his neck. Fury noticed the conflict in Jean and said in thoughts "Hold it, ms. Grey! Don't shout! Don't give away our position!". An anguished Jean, forcing herself to stay silent, though "but, it's Scott! We have to help! He's going to kill him!". "I said HOLD IT! Yes, he's going to kill him, and there's nothing we can do about that! Not now, at least! We have to watch and get as much intelligence as we can! Either that or reveal ourselves and die right here and now!". Indeed, Doom killed Cyclops. Although Jean cried his name in agony in her thoughts, she kept herself in silence.

Sheriff Strange, who was next to Doom, suddenly watched in the direction of the trio and made some gestures with his hands, but did not say anything. Did he spot them? There was no time to speculate: Doom suddenly turned him blind, and the other heroes suddenly turned into dust. Doom did not even give them a second thought and questioned Strange. "Did you thought me distracted? I noticed that you tried to teleport them all away, to save them from my wrath. Why, Stephen?". Strange, who was clearly confused by his sudden blindness, said "Because we both know that would have done this. They would have refused to bow before you, and then you would have felt compelled to eliminate such behavior. With prejudice. I couldn't allow that. Those were people we really knew, from the old world, and I have lived a lifetime with some of them. We did great things together." Doom offered his hand and asked him if they hadn't done great things together as well. "Of course we have… but I won't have anything to do with this". Doom raised his hand and killed him, without saying anything. And then, he disappeared. The Thors flew away, and only the corpses of Cyclops and Dr. Strange were left behind.

Some minutes later, Nick Fury broke the silence. "Very well. This was really awful, but let's go on. What can we say about all this?". Jean pointed out that this Cyclops, incredibly more powerful than the one she knew, was actually empowered by the Phoenix force, a force even greater than the power she once had in their universe. This force had left him when he died and then sought another host. Somehow it detected her and empowered her. Now she was Phoenix once more. Vision confirmed that Strange sensed them when he turned: as he had ceased to be a servant of Doom at that moment, the cloaking was not so strong anymore for him. Those gestures he made were a magic message that he gave her. He gave her the coordinates of his secret lair and said "You're the Keeper of the Seven Keys, that lock up the seven seas. Hide them from demons and rescue mankind, or the world we're all in will soon be sold to the throne of the evil paid with Lucifer's gold".

Jean also pointed that, while she was scanning the thoughts of some Thors, she heard that there were many "heretics" in a place called Arcadia, likely their friends, and that there was a battle raging in it at the moment. Fury told her to go there: this Phoenix power was best used in big superhero brawls, while stealing items and intelligence from Strange's lair was a subtle task better done in secrecy. So Jean left to Arcadia. Vision instructed Fury as they got on the road again. "Put on your armor, ragged after fights. Hold up your sword, you're leaving the light. Make yourself ready, for the lords of the dark, they'll watch your way, so be cautious, quiet and hark".

And then the valley in Utopolis was silent once again.

_Oh mother earth do you believe there is a place for us to go?_

_Come set us free again and let us fly away and give us hope._

_There'll be a time for us to fly to our thrones up in the sky._

_In the valley of the kings, when the storm breaks loose again_

_Then the gods will spread their wings, in the valley of the kings_

Gamma Ray - "Valley of the kings"


	13. Civil War

_Generals gathered in their masses,_

_Just like witches at black masses_

_Evil minds that plot destruction,_

_Sorcerer of death's construction_

_In the fields the bodies burning,_

_As the war machine keeps turning_

_Death and hatred to mankind,_

_Poisoning their brainwashed minds_

_Oh Lord yeah_

Black Sabbath - "War Pigs"

**Six years ago, at the Warzone**

The United States was a safe and prosperous country. It had a huge superhuman population, who kept the country secure from both foreign menaces and local crime. They also had geniuses like Tony Stark, who provided countless technological advances and gadgets that improved life. In recent years the Scarlet Witch had gone crazy and devastated the Avengers, who had to break up, and then the X-Men, removing mutations from all but 198 mutants in the whole domain; but despite facing such crises from time to time things were still overall positive for everyone.

Alas, it was too good to last. The New Warriors became a hit in reality-show television, fighting against minor retired villains while being filmed. They found Cobalt Man, Speedfreek, Coldheart and Nitro in a house in Stamford. Although they realized that they were not a match for them, they busted in anyway, thinking that it would be a hit in ratings. Nitro exploded like an atomic bomb, killing the New Warriors, his fellow villains, the TV crew, and the whole city. Everything in frightful live television. Worst of all, when Nitro blew up the fight had moved outside the house and next to a nearby school. The filming showed that the first ones caught in the blast, other than Nitro and Namorita, were the kids in the schoolyard.

The public outrage was unanimous. The Congress passed a law that forced all people with superpowers to either work for the government or have their powers removed. Unsanctioned vigilantism was strictly forbidden, regardless of having superpowers or not. People that defied the "Super Human Registration Act" were jailed in "The 42", a special prison in a pocket dimension designed by Stark. Tony Stark spearheaded the whole thing. He understood that the old ways could not continue anymore, and enforced the Act. The order, the safety. But not everyone agreed with Stark. Steve Rogers, for one. He saw the S.H.R.A. as a violation of the inherent principles of liberty upon which the nation was founded. He organized a team of superheroes against it. Both groups clashed in a superhero civil war.

There was a conflict at "The 42", where Captain America and his supporters released their allies from prison, and Stark arrived with reinforcements. Both sides thought that it would end there. No war lasts forever, right? No. It did not. Black Panther hacked the systems, and it is unclear what happened at that point. According to Captain America, he discovered that Stark set the prison to explode, with the prisoners and supporters still inside, while Stark escaped by some other method. According to Stark, Black Panther blew up the prison on Captain America's orders. Either way, everybody ran to Cloak, who could teleport them from the prison to New York. Cloak took everyone he could, not minding which side they were on. He tried to save them all: that's what heroes do. He tried to close the portal back to the prison as quickly as he could, but he was not quick enough. He teleported the explosion to the core of New York, killing many of the heroes and fifteen million people.

Things got very dark after that day. The war raged on. Even threats like the alien invasions of the Skrulls, Hulk and his insectoid allies and the coup of Norman Osbourne could not end it. Eventually, the superhero civil war evolved into an actual and very real civil war. The United States got divided into two countries, with everyone moving to the one they preferred. Iron Man took the east side, He asserted order, established laws and made things safe. This land was called "The Iron". Captain America took the west. He only had two laws: hurt no one, and help when you can. Otherwise, settlements governed themselves. Most lived in peace and happiness, but always knew: attempt to break Steve Rogers' laws and his Avengers would come… or worse, his punishers. This was the Blue.

**Now**

Like many times before, Tony Stark and Steve Rogers started peace negotiations. They met at the house of Miriam Sharpe, who stayed neutral and even built her house in a bridge over the chasm that divided the Iron and the Blue. It did not end well. Sharpe was killed by a sniper shot, and Rogers understood by circumstances that it was aimed at him. Both sides returned home, and the war continued.

The shot came from the Blue, and Stark sent a drone to follow him. It was shot down from the sky by Storm, who did not take Iron incursions on the Blue terrain lightly. Still, it was enough to determine that the killer had escaped to Steeltown. Stark sent She-Hulk, in her human form of Jennifer Walter, to investigate. He hoped that she could pass undetected, but she was detected and detained anyway. The Blue developed a new weapon, Project Bellcurve, but to activate it they needed stuff from the Iron. A small covert team retrieved them, but could not stay undetected. Both actions increased the animosity between both sides, and war raged on. Both countries organized their armies and sent them to the Battle of the Divide, right at the chasm between both.

On one side, Steve Rogers rallied his troops and gave them a motivational speech. "You are my people. You choose me to lead you through one of this country's darkest hours. I was humbled by that choice. I still am. We survived the breaking of our nation. We fought, and we died, and we forged a new nation. Together. The Blue. For six years we've been locked in a near-constant battle with the Iron. Children live on both sides of this war who have never known a nation at peace. Those children are our attempt to make our voices heard above the rushing tide of history. A way to carry our values into the future. But what have we taught them? The only place they can learn about a united, peaceful nation is their storybooks. There is no such thing as a just war. But there are, sometimes, necessary ones. Know that I do not take this course lightly. I have been a soldier for a very long time. I know that wars can blaze forever, if they are allowed to. They consume light, hope, energy, dreams, until there is nothing but war. That is why we are here today. I fear that unless we act, right now, then we will become a nation whose only purpose is to fight. And to breed more fighters to continue the battle until we are gone. Our only gift to the generation that follows us will be death. That bridge was built by Miriam Sharpe and her people to symbolize the idea that the Blue and the Iron could coexist. That there was a path between us. A path to peace. But the Iron thinks we are a nuisance. An obstacle to their plans to expand their territory. They want to take your land. Your children's land. The land you bled for. Miriam Sharpe is dead. Even those who believed in her cause have abandoned her symbol. The bridge lies empty." And, with an order, the bridge was blown up. "There's no going back. Our children must know peace as something other than a fairy tale. Today, this war ends."

On the other side of the chasm, Tony Stark made another speech to his own troops. "Don't forget what we're fighting for here. The Blue talks about freedom, but their doctrine is that of kids with a schoolyard sense of right and wrong. They want a new layer of society, where Gods do what they want, policed only by… who, exactly? Other gods? They think they are above the rest of the world because of their powers. Well, the people are sick of it. They're sick of the endless destruction as they do whatever they like. Captain America was the best of us, so he can't imagine bystanders getting hurt, or heroes not taking responsibility for their actions. Heck, if we all were like him, the SHRA would have not been needed to begin with. But the act isn't about the best of us, it's about all of us. Nobody must be above the law. Not even the president is above the law, so why would superheroes be? This is more than a superhero fight, this is the fight between civilization and barbarism, and as always, our country will stand for civilization".

Both sides run to each other, ready for the massive fight. But before it could start, they were all covered in webs. They looked up and saw two Thors, another Iron Man and a younger Spider-Man, pleading them to stop. There was much murmuring, but the two Thors summoned a thunderbolt and ceased it. "We are Ultimate Thor and Beta Ray Thor. No matter your civil war or your conflicting leaderships, our word is law. And our order… is that you hear this man out". Peter explained everything. His meeting with Mephisto, the incursion, the ship, the nature of Battleworld… and the nature of their domain. The civil war was kept alive forever, and it would be kept even after the Battle of the Divide, because Doom wished so. Doom, who was not a god but just a man, who got reality-warping powers and used them to torment those who wronged him in the world before Battleworld.

Stark was visibly confused by all of it. He had always noticed that several unlikely events kept the wars going on, such as the outcome of the battle at the 42 and the death of Miriam Sharpe, but never even considered that Doom himself could be behind it. He suspected that they were being played, but by Doom? Captain America remained skeptical. "With all due respect to the Thors, none of this seems right. It sounds too convenient. Right now, right before a definitive battle, you expect us to believe that all our lives have been a lie? That our country has been torn apart, that so many people died, because of a lie? Even more, two Thors bring us someone who speaks blasphemy against Doom. And who is this second Iron Man?" Then, Emma Frost steps forward. "Allow me, General. I'm a psychic, and if the Thors allow it, I can check this Spider-Man's mind to confirm his story." They agreed, and even more, invited her to check the minds of the four of them. She did… and she immediately displayed those things they remembered in the minds of everybody else on the battlefield.

They all understood and accepted that what Spider-Man said, confusing and mind-screwing as it may be, was true. Even Captain America. They also saw that those two Thors had defected and were no longer working for Doom. They also understood what had brought them to that domain: the domain of Arcadia had rebelled against Doom, and all Thors were summoned to crush their rebellion. Ultimate Thor, Beta Ray Thor, Spider-Man and Iron Man came to ask them to set aside their differences and join the fight against Doom, the real threat to all of Battleworld.

Raise against the one that they had always thought of as God, as someone beyond good and evil. It was not an easy thing they were asking for, but nobody refused. Still, Rogers and Stark were heads of state, so they instructed some of them to stay behind, just in case they did not return. Peter Parker, the local one, would stay as vice president of The Blue, and Riri Williams as vice president of the Iron. Both with instructions to end the war and negotiate an end of hostilities.

Beta Ray Bill opened a portal with his hammer, and left with the armies of both sides to the battle. But Ultimate Thor, Iron Man and Spider-Man did not go with them, there was another domain they had to visit first…

_Now in darkness world stops turning,_

_Ashes where the bodies burning_

_No more War Pigs have the power,_

_Hand of God has struck the hour_

_Day of judgement, God is calling_

_On their knees the war pigs crawling,_

_Begging mercies for their sins_

_Satan, laughing, spreads his wings_

_Oh Lord yeah_

Black Sabbath - "War Pigs"


	14. Into the Spider-Verse

_Mr. Crowley, what went on in your head?_

_Oh, Mr. Crowley, did you talk with the dead?_

_Your lifestyle to me seemed so tragic_

_With the thrill of it all_

_You fooled all the people with magic_

_Yeah, you waited on Satan's door_

Ozzy Osbourne - "Mr. Crowley"

The professor was discussing the final details of the "Paris Plan" with the crew. Lisbon, who was held prisoner, would be moved to the Supreme Court to testify on the case against the band. A convoy of police cars, three behind, the van and three in the front, would go, from point A, the prison, to point B, the Supreme Court, and then back. So the professor asked the crew, which was the best and ideal moment to intercept them? As he walked among them, like a high school teacher giving class, his confidence grew. He had almost lost it a short time ago, when he had thought that Lisbon had been executed by the police. But now, knowing that she's alive and that he can free her with a well-thought plan, he was in his element. One of the men suggested intercepting the convoy in the road. No, that's a bad idea. There are several police cars reinforcing the van that transports the prisoner, and they can't show up with similar forces. And even if they could, the police could always summon even more ones at the first sight of trouble. And even if the number of people was not a problem, a shooting has too many random elements to it, and the final result can not be guaranteed. The courtroom? No. The prison? A prison escape, perhaps? No. But there is a place that _is_ vulnerable. They had all seen it on TV, And that point is...

"Uatu!", the scream suddenly interrupted the TV episode, and Uatu paused it. "What's the meaning of this? Are you ignoring your sacred oath, again, to watch those blasted TV series?" Then Uatu turned off the TV. After all, he thought, Netflix would resume the series from the point he left it. "Well, yes, I'm watching the new season of 'Money Heist'. Why not? Did you forget that the multiverse has been destroyed, and the heroes of Earth-1 and Earth-2 were powerless to save it, as the slogan says? What's the point of watching Earth-65 now? I can easily tell you: it was an infinite and empty void some hours ago, and it still is." Utaa, the other Watcher, insisted, the Multiverse may have died, but Battleworld was born, and he should be watching the adventures taking place in it. "Yes, I have been watching it for a while, there was nothing else to see. It started fine, with the Ultimates getting all together, the references to Ultimate Spider-Man, the new plot in Battleworld, but then it kinda lost the focus, dropping everyone inside Secret Wars tie-ins. A-Force? Civil War? _Secret Wars_ issue 5 or 6? I'm not even sure if we're supposed to be in 2015 or 2020! I prefer to see what happens with Lisbon." Utaa did not care at all, and insisted. Spider-Man and Spider-Woman had suddenly disappeared while escaping from the Thors, and Uatu had to watch what happened to them. In fact, they had fallen in a domain that was very similar to the New York of Earth-65. "Argh! _Another_ Secret Wars tie-in? Who writes this crap?"

**Meanwhile, in the domain of Arachnia**

Several Spider-people were hanging out at the building of Mayor Norman Osborn: Anya Corazon, Billy Bradock, Pavitr Prabhakar, Spider-Man Noir and Spider-Ham; while Gwen Stacy and a powerless Peter Parker were fighting against the Sinister Six elsewhere in the city. Perhaps if Uatu had been watching this domain earlier he would know how did all this happen. Alas, he will have to start from here, and hope for the best. So, the vulnerable point in the police convoy that held Lisbon… no, no. Leave Netflix for later, there's work to be done now. Spider-Ham points out that his friend Norman likes to sit in a throne, wear a crown and rant about defeating and replacing Dr. Doom. Knowing so little about humans, he thought that this was normal behavior, but the others noted that it was bizarre, to say the least. They get to the room of this throne, located just above the remains of the Web of Life, and found the Siege Perilous. The presence of all those Spider-people activated it, and suddenly Miles Morales and Jessica Drew, the Spider-Man and Spider-Woman that survived the last incursion from the world before Battleworld, were teleported to that room. They remembered the "Spider-Verse" interdimensional conflict, but those guys did not, as they were not the alternate universe Spider-people they met, but just similar people born in this Battleworld domain. But they had little time to introduce themselves, as an angry Thor teleported herself to the place as well. She said that the machine was an aberration against God Doom and that it had to be destroyed.

The Web Warriors fought against the Thor, but were severely outmatched. Miles and Jessica hardly understood what was going on, but joined them anyway. Even if not the same ones, those looked like their old multiversal friends, and they had just escaped from a fight against a horde of Thors that attacked them for literally no reason; so the choice to join them against the Thor was an easy one. At one point they protested that it wasn't even their own machine, that Norman Osborn made it and they were still finding out what was it all about. The Thor ceased fighting. "Norman Osborn? The Baron of this domain? He created this monstrosity?" Braddock confirmed it, and her hammer confirmed that he was saying the truth. She located him and fled from the place.

For a moment, they felt relaxed that the Thor left, but then realized that Norman would be helpless against her. Ignoring his current whereabouts, Electro pointed that he had left with the rest of the Sinister Six to capture Spider-Woman and the original Spider-Man, who was back but without powers. That decided it: they had to go there and find them before the Thor kills them. It was not hard: as soon as they left the building they saw a big thunderbolt from the sky, giving away their position. One Spider-Woman saved the other, and Miles saved the powerless Peter. And then, they suddenly disappeared. They appeared again somewhere else in the city, and they fell on a dumpster. Miles got out of it, and there was someone waiting. "I don't know exactly what you think you're doing, but I'm not helping you clean this up". It was Spider-Woman, the one with the white suit. Another of her. There was one in the dumpster where they all fell. And then, Norman and the Sinister Six showed up in the rooftop above them. "Very well. Can we continue this from the point when we were so rudely interrupted? Hope you don't mind, but I brought some help from this world" Many others appeared from behind: Matt Murdock, another Vulture, Aleksei Mikhailovich Sytsevich, Sergei Kravinoff, Mr. Murderhands, Shadowcat and Cindy Moon.

"Uatu!", Utaa cried once again. "What is _this_? Where did all those people fell?" Uatu felt so embarrassed. "I don't know, I'm not sure. I would seem as if they had somehow fallen into Earth-65". "Yes, I can see that! And worse than that, I can see that Earth-65 has somehow eluded the death of the Multiverse and still exists, undisturbed… and you, Uatu, completely and utterly failed to even notice that, and record the way this happened! How? How could Earth-65 have no incursions and still be here? Nobody knows… because you did not watch Earth-65 even once since the last incursion, because you were too busy watching a band of thieves trying to steal the gold from the Bank of Spain! Do something better than this, or you will be demoted to watch Earth-730784!" Uatu was visibly confused about the threat. "730784? Which one is that? The "Days of Future Past" one? The "Future Imperfect" one? The MCU one? A forgotten 'What if?' world?" "No! It is the one of the animated series 'Avengers: United they stand'! The one with the Power Rangers style, and which ended in an unresolved cliffhanger! That one!" "NO! ANYTHING BUT THAT! I promise, I will be a role model Watcher from now on! Don't make me have to watch that!". Utaa left, leaving Uatu alone.

So, Uatu checked again the events in Earth-65. The Thor, the Sinister Six and all the other villains were all unconscious and defeated in the ground, and Miles and the three Spider-Women stood victorious. "Great work, Miles! Great work, both of you! I can't believe we have won this way! if I told this to someone, they would never believe us!" Uatu could not believe his bad luck. He had missed it all, while Utaa was reprimanding him. "Oh, my! And now what? What will I write in the report? How will I say they defeated all those villains? Bah, whatever. I will write that they defeated the Bodega Bandit."

And then, they were teleported back to Battleworld (with the exception of Earth-65 Spider-Woman, who stayed at her home dimension), to the Arachnia domain. Pavitr Prabhakar had stayed in the building trying to figure out how to use the Siege Perilous. Indeed, it worked: the Thor was teleported outside of Battleworld itself, as intended, and the ones teleported during the testing were successfully retrieved. Now, however, it was the time for the complicated discussion. Gwen always had an existential crisis, and now, to find another one like her somewhere else… Miles and Jessica explained it with the whole truth: that there was a multiverse once, that it was destroyed by events too complicated to explain properly, and that Dr. Doom, once just a man, got godlike powers and created Battleworld, and populated it with copies of people from the multiverse.

This was the worst answer she could have received. She confirmed that her life, her whole existence, everything she had ever known, was all a lie. The others never gave it much thought, but they felt demoralized as well. But Jessica insisted: "Yes, your life is all a big, giant, cosmic lie. I know how it feels, I am a clone of someone else, and remember in full detail a life that does not belong to me. But I got payback on the man who created me, and eventually accepted my condition and became a person of my own. Same goes for you. You know who created you, Dr. Doom. Yes, he's a bit more powerful than my Dr. Octopus, but you can still stand against him. There were others who survived the death of the multiverse with us, and we'll take the fight to him as soon as we can come up with a plan. We were taken away from them when you inadvertently activated the Siege Perilous, but now we should return with them… and you are invited to join us. Make Dr. Doom pay for this… or die trying, but you'll die as real people, not as expendable copies." She showed her hand and asked, "Are you with us?". They all made a hand stack and joined forces. Pavitr Prabhakar activated the Siege Perilous again and detected a domain with several people with an energy signature similar to that of Miles and Jessica.

And with that, they all teleported to the unknown domain, to join the fight against the forces of Doom, and for the life of the multiverse. But nobody will know what will happen with them, except for the one who will watch it all, under the sacred vows of always watching but never interfering! That is the power, and the curse, of being the Watcher!

Pavitr Prabhakar: There! It worked! I couldn't go, someone had to activate this machine, but now I can use the Siege Perilous to watch them!

See? Just what I said! And now, if you excuse me, I need to check Netflix before the next episode of this Battleworld nonsense is released…

_Cry out to legions of the brave_

_Time again to save us from the jackals of the street_

_Ride out, protectors of the realm_

_Captain's at the helm, sail across the sea of lights_

_Circles and rings, dragons and kings_

_Weaving a charm and a spell_

_Blessed by the night, holy and bright_

_Called by the toll of the bell_

_Bloodied angels fast descending_

_Moving on a never-bending light_

_Phantom figures free forever_

_Out of shadows, shining ever-bright_

_Neon Knights! _

Black Sabbath - "Neon Knights"


	15. The Big Fat Kill

_You may screw their brains_

_You may sacrifice them, too_

_You may mortify their flesh_

_You may rape them all_

_One day the tortured will stand up_

_And revolt against the evil_

_They'll make you drink your blood_

_And tear yourself to pieces_

_You better watch the damned (God bless ya)_

_They're gonna break their chains (hey)_

_No, you can't stop them (God bless ya)_

_They're coming to get you_

_And then you'll get your_

_Balls to the wall, man_

_Balls to the wall_

_You'll get your balls to the wall, man_

_Balls to the wall, balls to the wall_

Accept - "Balls to the Wall"

**Six months ago**

Logan: This isn't a joke! This isn't another one of those stupid fights! This is where it ends, you redneck son of a bitch! **That's** for my wife and kids!

Bruce Banner: Your wife and kids? You know, he shouldn't have asked me to kill them! I would have done it anyway, for free, just to have my Wolverine back like this again! But now… _this_ is where it ends!

And then Hulk broke Logan in half and ate him, as he had done for years with his enemies. But Banner forgot about his healing factor. Some hours later Logan healed himself and broke out of Hulk's stomach, killing him in the process. And the whole Hulk gang, the landlords that ruled California for years, was finally gone.

**Now**

Another day like all the others. It has been six months since I offed the Hulk, but I'm still angry about it. My revenge is not complete yet. Before trying to eat me, that miscreant mentioned that someone else asked him to kill Maureen, Scotty, and Jade. I have been asking around. Other farmers, Sonny Stark's bar, Heff Mansion, all the places those scum used to hang out in. Nothing. And there's little reason to suspect any of them of hiding anything: since I killed the Hulk gang, I'm the big damn hero of California. Not a reputation I was looking for, but if it helps my quest, fine.

I don't know who ordered your death, Maureen. I don't know why, I don't know how, but you were my wife, you saved me at the lowest point of my life and gave me two kids. And when I find out who ordered it, it will be loud and nasty, my kind of kill. I'll stare the bastard in the face and laugh as he screams to God Doom, and I will laugh harder when he whimpers like a baby. And when his eyes go dead the hell I send him to will seem like heaven after what I've done to him. I love you, Maureen, Jade, Scotty.

I also thought, what if Banner made it up? What if nobody else is to blame? But after replaying the scene several times in my head, it is clear that he was not making it up. I saw it in his face. He had no reason to. First, because he was not trying to dodge his guilt. He was _proud_, the sick bastard, of what he did. He said it because he wanted to remark that he would have done it anyway, with or without orders. And he did not say it a context that expected a discussion, either: he ate me right after it. If it was for him, I would have died then, and none would have been the wiser. And what kind of things you say in such situations? Bingo. Big secrets. Secrets that can only be taken to the grave. Someone ordered the Hulk to kill my wife. Somebody knows why. Somebody in the wastelands. Somebody knows.

So I checked Banner's cave again. It still stinks to his blood. I know that he also had a healing factor, even greater than my own, so I sliced his corpse in several small pieces, and buried each one at very distant places. Try to heal from _that_, scumbag. Then I found something: a gun. Banner and his gang needed no freakin' guns. This is a lead. Someone else, not me, and not the Banners, has been in this cave. Even someone like me can see it: it must have been the one who told Banner what to do. Surely not the scumbag nº1 himself, but a henchman; getting into this cave was a death sentence for anyone, regardless of circumstances, even for the unfortunate fool sent here. But this is something. There is no scent in the gun: it has been too much time, Banner's stink is all over the place, and my senses are not what they used to be. But if I can find the owner of this gun, I may find the henchman, and if I find the henchman I may find the scumbag nº1.

Without a scent, there is not much I can do with the gun, so I need to ask someone with some knowledge about mechanical stuff. And here, that means the Butcher market. Ms. Fix takes a good look at it, and gave me loads of information about it. That Fantasticar that the Hulk gang was using was a superb payment for her to do this, I never saw that woman so enthusiastic before. Most of that info was useless to me, except one thing: nowadays those guns are sold at Fisk Lake City, in the Kingdom of the Kingpin. But before I leave, someone shows up. The Black Butcher. He warns me that I'm not welcomed at his market, and to stay away from it. Ms. Fix did not even notice him, she's too busy checking her brand new toy. So I get to the Butcher and remind him that things have changed since the last time I was here. The Hulk Gang is no longer backing him, now he's just an old fool. I cut his hand with my claw, and walk away. The bastard screams in agony while he bleeds to death. But he had it coming: he hit my boy.

The Ghost Riders, the motorbike gang, attacked me. They usually attack people on the road for any petty reason. One of them recognized me: I was carrying what they thought were drugs some months ago, and then Clint killed most of his friends when I refused to attack. Now Clint is not here, they still think I have drugs on me, and think that they can take them from me. Sorry, bubs, no drugs today. But it is still a good moment to take a pause in my quest and teach those punks the small difference between the Logan they met before and the one they attacked now. No reason to play it gently. No reason to play it nice. No reason to play it any way but my way. From now on, people going down this road won't have to worry about the Ghost Riders… except to go around the big pile of corpses and motorbikes in the road.

Fisk Lake City is the city of the Kingpin. And nowadays, that's Ashley Barton, Clint's daughter. I know I'm not exactly an honorary uncle for her, in fact she tried to kill us both. Wilson had a network of spies all over the city, and she sure kept them for herself. There's no need to look for thugs, I will just sit in a bar and wait, and the thugs will come for me. The first one I find is called "The Villain Pub". Whatever. A bar is a bar. A strange monster throws a boozer out of it, and threatens me to stay outside. Too ugly and hairy for the bar, he says. I cut his head off, get inside, and order some beers. A guy with a white face and a purple suit asks me if I know how he got his scars. I ignore him. I'm by the fourth one when four guys show up. Hitmen. "Now that is one fine coat you're wearing there, bub". I love hitmen. No matter what you do to them, you don't feel bad. Fact is, the worse you do, the better it gets. I recognize them: Herman Schultz, the Shocker. Bentley Wittman, the Wizard. Lance Alvers, Avalanche. Willis Stryker, Diamondback. I make short work of them, with just a pair of swift movements, but leave Schultz alive. "The coat. Take it off. You're bleeding all over it. Fine coat like that and you're bleeding all over it. It's just not right." He has a gun, yes. I get the location of the guy who sells him guns, and finish him. While I leave, the barkeeper calls a guy to clean the mess I left, who musses "it's not my time…"

Turns out that there is a single place to buy weapons in all the city. Figures it easy to control that way. Norbert Ebersol, the Fixer, owns it. All weapons aim at me when I open the door, but then he turns them off. The egghead realizes that it would be pointless, and gave me a speech about being just a salesman nowadays. So we talk about the gun. He checks it and gives me the serial number for it, the number that identifies this specific gun. Unfortunately, he does not know who took it: this one was an order from the Kingpin. If I want a name, I will have to ask him. Or her. Either if it was Fisk or Ashley, I will have to ask her. Ebersol thinks we are done with business, but we are not. He's supervillain scum. He was with the Thunderbolts the night the super-heroes fell, and he has to pay for it. I stab him and leave him bleeding to death, and continue my search.

I don't make it to the Kingpin's building. She shows up a few squares before. She's fast, with those Spider powers of her. I am not this fast, I was not in my day, and much less now. But I don't need to be. I can easily cut the webs she shoots to me, and when she gets to me to kick me… that's when I get her. She's supervillain scum, but she's the daughter of my friend. I won't kill her if I can help it. I make it very clear that I don't care about ruling any freakin' kingdom, only want to know about scumbag Nº 1. She confirms that she had sent the man to the Hulk's cave, but she was following orders as well. Orders from whom? God Doom, she says. "You're really pushing your luck, kiddo, trying to feed me garbage like this. It can't be that big". "That's what they told me! The actual orders came from the baron in New Babylon. He's the one who may have received those orders, or who made it up. So go there and ask him! And during the long trip, ask yourself why would God Doom want to mess with a $% useless farmer like your wife". As I said… if I can help it. I cut her head off, and leave to New Babylon. I don't know who will rule this lands now, nor do I care. Not me, that's for sure.

Wyoming is filled with dinosaurs, just like I remembered. As long as I mind my own business and stay away from them, they will not attack me. Not that I fear them, but they are not villains, they are just animals. I would prefer to leave them alone if possible. Then I saw a guy in the distance, some fool that ignored the precautions, or did not care, and some velociraptors (if that's the species) are rounding him. I turn towards him to help, but it was not needed: One of the beasts cry out in pain and falls dead, and the others run away. Then I saw something interesting: he has claws in his hands, just like mine. Now he comes to me. Looking for a fight? No: he saw me, and thought that I needed help from the dinosaurs. That's even more interesting. He did not recognize me, he was not looking for me. I do what anyone else would do: I ask about the claws. He said he was the son of Wolverine. Some face there. My son is Scotty, may he rest in peace, and this guy sure as hell ain't him. I show him my own claws, and inform him that I'm Wolverine. After the surprise, he tells me a bizarre story: that he's actually the son of the Wolverine of another dimension, that he never met him anyway because he was adopted by James and Heather Hudson, and that he's here because all realities have ceased to exist, and that this world is actually a patch-up world made of pieces of other dimensions. A strange story, to say the least. He says he needs to escape from this domain because he has friends elsewhere and needs to go back with them. I don't know how to do that. I never left the wastelands. Nobody ever left the wastelands. But if there is a place to attempt that, that will be surely New Babylon. The baron lives there, and talks with people from outside. We go together, but only because of convenience. Once we get there, each one will follow his own path. He has no part in my revenge, and his mumbo jumbo is none of my business.

Still, I never gave him my back during the whole journey. His story could very well be a made-up lie to confuse me and attack me while distracted. But he never gave me actual reasons to distrust him, and did not try to talk me out of my revenge or take me elsewhere. He says he's the son of the Wolverine of another dimension, but does not try to force a father and son bond with me: the only time we mention it, by my initiative, he explained that he inherited his mutant powers from that Wolverine, but considers the Hudsons to be his adjectiveless parents. And once we get to New Babylon, he leaves on his own. So it seems he was saying the truth, after all. But now it's time to find scumbag Nº 1. I killed Red Skull some months ago and left in a hurry. There is no internet, not even newspapers, back in California, but I figure that someone else must be ruling in the Skull's stead. It doesn't take long to figure out who: the fascist banners of Baron Von Strucker are all over the city. I find him making a speech to a complete arena of Hydra soldiers, something about making the country great again. All those soldiers, just an obstacle between me and the guy who ordered to kill my wife.

This should be agony. I should be a mass of aching muscle, broken, spent, unable to move. And, were I an older man, I surely would. But I'm a man of thirty, of twenty again. The rain on my chest is a baptism. I'm born again. I smell their fear, and it's sweet. I kill and dismember countless soldiers, never losing my sight from my prey at the front platform. Finally, I get to him. He gives me a long list of insults: mutie, freak of nature, abomination, subhuman creature, you name it. I can only reply "That there is one damn fine coat you're wearing".

I ask him the question. I ask him why. He swears that he will never talk. Some minutes later, with no arms and no legs, he talks. He makes a final threat: "Hydra will not rest until… until… you're dead. Cut off one head and two more shall…" Tired of that line, I cut his head. "No. Not anymore. Hydra dies here. Today".

I leave the place, all covered in blood, slowly washed away by the rain. Not a single Hydra soldier still lives. The arena is now just a giant pile of bleeding corpses. This was a kill to remember. A big fat kill. But my mind keeps going back to my talk with Strucker. First, he refused to answer anything, but when he saw that he was done for, he talked. He also said that he didn't give the order. He gave me a name. Finally, the name of scumbag Nº 1. I have never been scared easily, and if I kept my head low for so many years, it was because I was afraid for Maureen, Jade and Scotty if I angered the wrong people. Now I'm afraid to the bones. Just a name. When Ashley said it I thought she was trying to jerk me around. When Strucker said I realized that it was not a joke. Just a name.

Doom.

Every inch of me wants to turn tail and go back to California. Gave up revenge, return to the farm and stay there forevermore. Forget about all this, forget about everyone, and be content with the small revenge I already got with Hulk. And it's not because of being a superhero that I stay. I simply know that I can't forget Maureen. I was in the lowest point of my life, I had killed all my friends and didn't want anything but to die, and she rescued me from the abyss. She gave me purpose and motivation. She helped me to get up once again and live. Wolverine died that night long ago, but it is because of her that Logan lived on. She gave me two kids, and the most happy years of my life. And she was killed. How can I ever live with myself knowing that I didn't make her justice? But Doom… I do not fear any foe that lives and breathes, but if I go against Doom, I'm as good as dead. But I prefer to die, than to live forevermore with such a shame. I will find this Jimmy Hudson, help him to leave the wastelands, and we'll do what has to be done. We'll fight together, and perhaps we'll die together. Perhaps I'll get my revenge, perhaps he will return to his home, or perhaps we'll die trying. But sure as hell we won't we going down without a fight.

_Time has run out for all you tyrants on earth_

_Your slaves are heedin' the call_

_Makin' an end to all this terror and pain_

_An end to your lies and your law_

_Freedom the cry of all slaves will be heard_

_The tyrants will now feel the steel of the sword_

_The chains will be broken by all slaves on earth_

_Forever to be free from their load_

_...forever to be free from their load! _

Helloween - "Cry for Freedom"

Somewhere else in Battleworld "The dead shall fight, when your people are closest to us"


	16. Under Siege

_We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender._

Winston Churchill - "We shall fight on the beaches" speech.

Several portals opened all around. Blood and death were waiting, like a raven in the sky. The sky filled with Thors, the plains filled with Deviants, and the seas filled with Attuma's legions. But nobody in Arcadia showed any fear. The towers were immediately manned with women ready to fire at the Deviants' siege weapons, Namora and Lady Dorma fled to the waters, and A-Force stands ready to face the Thors. Victorious, next to the Ultimates, said "The Enemy is here!". Hawkeye asked if that means that Doom was also in the fight, and she laughed bitterly. "Nay, not yet, archer! He will not come save to triumph over us all when everything is said and done! Unless something else arouses his interest, he will ignore this whole war with disdain, and let his soldiers fight and die in it! And if things get too out of control, he will summon the King of All Evil to battle!". Rune Thor rallied the Thors to the battle. "We are fighting, fighting a holy war. See us fly on winds of Doom, baptized in fire and steel. For the end we bring is soon, now face the storm, a holy war". On the other side, Battle Beast led A-Force to the battle as well. "Time after time they think they got me. Again and again, I keep getting up. My fists are made of steel my heart is made of gold. I will not bend, I will not break, 'cause I am Die-hard - No one beats me, 'Cause I am Die-hard, Die-hard". The Invisible Woman mussed "please stop it, or I'll drown in the testosterone". Rune Thor threw his hammer, but Kate Bishop, who knew them, stopped it by firing an arrow to it in midair and catching it with the arrow in the handle. Only those worthy could lift the hammers, but once thrown they followed the laws of physics. They may be unstoppable, but only in the direction they were thrown; if another force changed their direction, they simply keep going somewhere else. Not much, as the Thors could summon the hammers back and throw them again, but it helped an archer with no superpowers to keep them busy.

The Deviants brought rams to take the main gate down, but none of them were strong enough. The gate and walls were tick, and the towers destroyed the rams before they could continue their minimal work. So they brought trebuchets to the front lines, whose missiles could fly from above the walls. They threw burning missiles, starting fires behind the walls. The Invisible Woman tried to block the attacks with her forcefields and Storm to extinguish the fires with rain, but they were the only ones with such powers, the battlefield was huge, and the Deviant attacks were everywhere.

Captain Marvel fought thors above the city, but after they fell Power Princess, she was alone in there, and the others could not reach her. Several Thors attacked her all at once, and although she gave many blast shots on them, it was of no use. She finally fell down. Jessica Jones opened her way across the Thors on the ground, cursing them all, and reached her friend Carol. She pleaded her to be fine, but she was not. "I'm not going to survive this. I tried to make you a bit like me, but I turned out like you instead. I thought I did not need anyone, I thought I could stop all those foes just by myself. Promise me you won't be a lone ranger now, and fight with the others. Promise me you will survive, and you will all take down Doom's tyranny. Promise me that America Chavez will be avenged. Promise me…" Jessica took her hand, crying, and promised her. Carol had another request before dying: she asked Jessica to bring one of the foreigners, Rogue. Fortunately, she was nearby. Rogue was also in shock, she had just met those people, but everyone she ever met was killed or took away from her. In her short life she was tortured and forced into military operations by Weapon X, Iceman cheated on her with Kitty, his friend Juggernaut turned out to be a psycho in love, he and Gambit killed each other in a fight, she got Gambit's power for a time but they eventually left her, she lost most of the X-Men during the Ultimatum, including Xavier, she fell in love with Quentin but he took the cure and ceased being a mutant (and also being immune to her powers), she felt one with the living forest in Utopia but Jean destroyed it, and so on. All her life had been misery and despair, and now this. But Captain Marvel insisted and asked her to get close. She removed Rogue's glove and embraced her hand. "My life's in exile, I need you to touch me, 'cause I want what you do". She started glowing, using her powers at the max, while Rogue's touch drained her life even quicker. "Stop it! You are burning, burning up like fire" "Then come, turn me on and turn the flames up higher!". And Captain Marvel died. But now her power was burning in Rogue. Now she could fly, had super strength and power blasts! She was also shining, but it was not the moment to be concerned about that. She retrieved her glove and helped Jessica Jones up. With the memories of Carol in her mind, she was fully aware of their friendship and who she was and invited her to kick some Thor's asses. For Carol!

It was not just Thors, Deviants, and Atlanteans that joined the fight: anyone from any of the realms could be summoned. The battle was joined by the Liberators, from a realm based on an alternate reality where they won over the Ultimates and conquered the US. Alex Su, the Crimson Dynamo, had several armors under his command. Perun had powers like those of the Thors. The Colonel had the supersoldier serum of Captain America, one of the few test subjects that survived it besides Steve Rogers. The Abomination had the power of Hulk, but keeping his intellect. Swarm could control insects, Hurricane had superhuman speed, and the Schizoid Man was augmented with stem cells stolen from Multiple Man, thus having a similar power. They drop into the city, but the Ultimates had already fought them, and the others knew about them as well. They started to wreak havoc in the city, except the Colonel, who hesitated.

She-Hulk and Titania took on the Abomination. Jennifer said that he was green and ugly, so he did not stand a chance against someone who was green and pretty. Still, the fight was evenly matched. She-Hulk did not have the savagery of the Hulk and lacked his edge in such a fight. Titania had great strength and liked to fight dirty, but so did the Abomination. He did not hesitate to fight against women: no quarter was expected, and none was given. But then Rogue appeared from behind and sucked his power, leaving him weak. Titania took the chance and blew off his head. She took advantage of this extra power while she had it, and killed Perun, Swarm, and a pack of Thors while she could. The death of Captain Marvel had proved that this was not just another silly superhero fight: this was war. Kill or be killed. Hurricane was an elusive target, but she made a fatal mistake: she stopped for a moment to gloat. Just for a second, but it was all both Hawkeyes needed. She got two arrows to the chest and died.

Jessica Jones tackled the Colonel on a one-to-one fight. That, too, was evenly matched, until he asked "Who are you, people?". He clearly had no idea what was happening, why they were there. Neither did the other liberators, but the needed less motivation: they just knew they had to fight, and did so. Jessica replied that they are A-Force, of Arcadia, and that they were fighting to liberate themselves from Doom's tyranny. The Colonel asked, "Liberate?". He mussed "I'm going to regret this..." drop his weapon to the ground and surrendered. He wanted to hear the whole story. Jessica explained things in a few brief sentences: there was a war going on around them, and she was not a talkative person anyway. Turns out that the Colonel switched sides and joined A-Force in their fight. In his world, he took the Super Soldier serum to fight against the tyranny of American imperialism but eventually regretted doing so when the other Liberators established in its place an actual and ruthless tyranny, like that ruling in China and Iran. No, he would not be an agent of a tyrant, he would also stand against him. He took his lightsaber back and attacked copies of the Schizoid Man. However, thanks to his power, more and more copies kept appearing. But suddenly, all of them vanished in the air. In the distance, the only Schizoid Man that did not disappear fell to the ground: an aged Wolverine had killed him.

But there was no time to check that man or understand what had happened. The Crimson Dynamo still had his army of robots, wreaking havoc across Arcadia. X-23 wished that there were more Multiverse guys, and then Spider-Woman shows up at her back. "Actually, we call it the Spider-Verse, but yeah, the Multiverse is totally a thing". The Siege Perilous had created a portal from the Arachnia domain, teleporting Jessica Drew, Miles Morales, Gwen Stacy, Anya Corazón, Billy Braddock, Spider-Man Noir and Spider-Ham, the Spider-Verse gang. "OK, team, let's take down those robots! The one that takes down the most gets to name the gang!" And with that said, they all jumped into action. Spider-Gwen kicked robots as a dancer, Miles electrocuted them with his venom blast, Spider-Man Noir filled them with bullets and Spider-Ham used his cartoon maze. Still, the Crimson Dynamo Prime, the main one, was still at large, and it was a giant robot. Jessica Drew was tiny in size next to it, but it did not matter. She had the same mechanical and scientist expertise as Parker, so she quickly goes around the giant robot body, filling with webs several key junctures First she immobilized a leg, then both, then the torso, and eventually the giant robot was all immobilized. A single kick to finish it, and it fell to the ground like a load of useless junk, with Spider-Woman standing triumphally over its head. Miles protested "That still only counts as one!"

There was no time to celebrate: another group of enemies appeared. Kitty recognized them: they were the Squadron Supreme. Power Princess took on Hyperion and her doppelganger, Miles tried to tackle Nighthawk, Victorious kept Arcanna from using her powers, X-23 tried to cut Shape to no avail, and the Colonel tried to fight Amphibian, and Titania tried to stop Inertia. Kitty knew that they were bad news: she remembered that she fought against them alongside the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the Ultimates, and the X-Men, and they could withstand it all. She told Spider-Woman about their low chances, and she remembered as well the fight. Jessica called Pavitr Prabhakar, and he used the Siege Perilous against the Squadron, teleporting them to the void outside Battleworld's realm. Unfortunately, the Power Princess of A-Force was caught in the teleportation as well. And the Siege Perilous was spent with this teleportation and could not be used anymore. But, while they were distracted with the Squadron, they did not realize what was happening outside the walls.

Attuma's forces brought another siege weapon from the seas. It was no brigand or Deviant-chieftain who led the legions of the seas. His ram, Grond, was incredibly massive, like a giant tower in the ground, and incredibly durable, and it was made to withstand the pressures of the deep. Namora and Lady Dorma were like flies trying to damage it, and the rest of A-Force were busy in the city with the Thors. The drums rolled. The Deviants got out of the way and let the great Grond approach the main gate. The towers fired at it, but upon its housing, no fire would catch, and when deviants and Atlanteans that moved it fell, new ones quickly took their places. Grond finally reached the wall. The drums rolled wildly. A deep boom rumbled through the city like thunder running in the clouds. But the doors of iron and posts of steel withstood the stroke. Attuma ordered to attack again. Thrice he cried. Thrice the great ram boomed. And suddenly upon the last stroke, the gate of Arcadia broke. As if stricken by some blasting spell it burst asunder: there was a flash of searing lightning, and the doors tumbled in rived fragments to the ground.

The Deviants could not enter to the city yet. Thundra stood among the remains of the gate, valiant, still, and defiant to the end. "You cannot enter here!", she shouted, and the Deviants hesitated. "Go back to the abyss, creatures of shadow! Fall into the nothingness that awaits you and your master! YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" She took Grong with her bare hands, raised it, and threw it against the bulk of the Deviant army. Of course, that would not stop them, their numbers were too great. She expected the Deviants to regroup and return, but they stayed away.

And with good reason. A crimson figure appeared floating in the air, going towards the gate. His helmet did not conceal his maleficent face, and his cape floated in the wind.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I AM MAGNETO, MASTER OF MAGNET!"

The King of All Evil had arrived.

_I will always remember their cries_

_Like a shadow which covers the light_

_I will always remember the time_

_But it's past_

_I cannot turn back the time_

_(I) don't look back_

_There's still smoke near the shore_

_But I arrived_

_Revenge be mine_

_I will take part in your damned fate_

_Morgoth I cried_

_It's my oath_

_So don't fear the eyes_

_Of the dark lord_

Blind Guardian - "The Curse of Fëanor"


	17. The King of the Dead

_I'm the day, I'm the day_

_I can show you the way_

_And look I'm right beside you_

_I'm the night, I'm the night_

_I'm the dark and the light_

_With eyes that see inside you_

_Come down with fire_

_Lift my spirit higher_

_Someone's screaming my name_

_Come and make me holy again_

_I'm the man on the silver mountain_

_I'm the man on the silver mountain_

Rainbow - "Man On The Silver Mountain"

**A long time in the future, in a galaxy far, far away**

The One: Uatu the Watcher, you are here because you have failed your sacred duties. You have repeatedly outskirted your task of watching Earth-65 to watch Netflix TV series instead. And your most recent fault, you have failed to see how did Ghost Spider drives the evil Storm brothers from her city because you were watching "Vikings" and the new season of "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.". What can you say in your defense?

Uatu: My Noble Lord, I can't offer you either richness or jewels, crowns, or scepters, either lands or nations to submit. But hear, my king, hear my song telling the legends of an ancient age when the forces of light contrasted the dominion of the gods and the balance of the universe. My Lord... My Lord, keep in your heart the saga of the warlord whose name was THE KING OF ALL EVIL. Hear the epic tales of a time now far past, when men kneeled to the power of the hammers. Hear the deeds of the mighty A-Force, they believed in the sacred fire of glory and pride. I sing the saga of the bravest and proudest warrior of Doom's court. Blood, ice, earth, and moonlight blessed his soul. He was called by the king of kings to be the defender of the sky. Hear the last Ultimate story, the duel on the Golden city, the anger of evil. Thus came the age of destruction and death, when the darkness of war engulfed all the land and the sky.

**Now**

No place to hide. No place to run. The King of All Evil was floating in the air, in front of the destroyed gates of Arcadia, and his attack has now begun. His crimson helmet concealed only part of his face, a face with electric eyes that denoted great arrogance and confidence. A-Force had never seen him, but knew about him: he was the most terrible and dangerous servant of Doom. The Ultimates also knew him, but not with that name. They once knew him as Magneto.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! X-MEN! WELCOME… TO DIE! WHEN THE BROTHERHOOD OF MUTANT TERRORISTS AND I ARE THROUGH, HUMANS WILL NO LONGER HAVE A PLACE ON PLANET EARTH!"

And when he said that, the rest of the Brotherhood showed up. "The White Queen welcomes you… to die", said a woman. Storm thought that she looked similar to Emma Frost, headmistress of the Academy of Tomorrow, but was puzzled by her appearance, as she was dressed like a hooker in white clothes. She immediately dismissed the idea, as it was clearly someone else. "Nothing moves da Blob!", said a morbidly obese man with a club. Clearly the Blob, a man who ate the dead corpse of Janet Van Dyne, a vision that had haunted Hawkeye since then. "Juggernaut will flatten you!" said a man with a bazooka and a helmet that covered his whole face. His helmet was brown, not blue, but Rogue recognized him as Cain Marko, his childhood friend. "Pyro will turn you to toast!" said the last one, who looked nothing like the guy that joined Storm and Bishop in that X-Men team, but probably had fire manipulation powers as well.

Even worse, the Deviants regrouped, ready to follow behind the Brotherhood. And more portals opened in the sky, as even more Thors showed up to take part in the fight. They had been fighting the heroes of Earth-2 elsewhere but left the battleground when God Doom intervened personally, which left them free to join their brothers in arms in this other conflict. The King of All Evil made a final statement. "I AM MAGNETO! YOU ARE NOTHING!", and advanced to the city, inside his magnetic bubble.

First, he wrapped Thundra with her own chains, and casually, effortlessly, threw him to the city. Then he did the same with Titania, whose leather suit was filled with metal spikes. Many guards in the walls were armed with swords, he attracted them and then release them back like deadly projectiles. One of those swords killed Dagger, but he hardly even cared. He felt so secure in his power, that he was simply toying with his prey.

The Blob faced both Hawkeyes first. He attacked them with his club, crying "Nothing moves da Blob!", but they quickly evaded it. Kate pointed out that he was saying the same line all the time, as if it was the only thing he could say. No time to check it out though. Clint first thought that the Blob may be immune to blunt force, but perhaps less so to pierce weapons, such as arrows. It was of no use. The arrows simply stuck to the fat of his body, and Blob removed them, repeating his line. Kate tried with her arrows, to the same effect. Then Clint remembered the tapes of the first fight of the Ultimates with Hulk and thought that his body, legs, and arms were so filled with fat, but he could still aim to his weak points. He shot his arrow to his mouth: he still survived, but was clearly enraged now. Still, he understood that he was in the good direction. But arrows were still something big, and even if he gets to the right point, they stay at the surface of the body. He needed to be precise, and go deep. Fortunately, although he had left the suit and the attitude he had after the death of his family, he still kept the tricks in his belt. He discarded the bow and took a gun he had hidden. He aimed at Blob's eye and crying "This is for Jan!", he fired. The shot got through his eye and into his brain. No invulnerability saved him, and he collapsed to the ground.

Magneto was still nearby, but he was still amused by the fight, and unconcerned by the death of one of the Brotherhood. Suddenly, however, his face grew serious, and looked elsewhere, back to the fields. A new portal was opening, and then many others. But only one of those portals was a Mjolnir portal, those used by the Thors to move around Battleworld. The other portals were sling-ring portals. A battle-weary, but still ready Captain America appeared first, though the Mjolnir portal. Iron Man appeared through another, to the left. And Beta Ray Bill, a traitor to the Thors, was with them. The armies of the Blue and the Iron followed them. Their Spider-Man, flying with his Falcon wings, got through one of the portals and landed next to Cap. He was followed by Dr. Strange and some of the Guardians of the Galaxy. And then more sorcerers, the Wasp, Pepper Pots in her Iron Man suit, and many others. Dr. Strange asked "Is that everyone?", and Wong replied "What? You wanted more?". As in reply to that line, Stature grew to giant size and left another She-Hulk in the field. Soon they filled the fields, dwarfing even the Deviant army. They had halted their Civil War, and joined the real war in Arcadia. Captain America summoned the Mjolnir of one of the fallen Thors and took it for himself. He cried "AVENGERS… ASSEMBLE!".

But it was no deviant-chieftain or brigand that led the assault upon Arcadia. Victory was slipping from his grasp even as he stretched out his hand to seize it. But his arm was long. He was still in command, wielding great powers. King of All Evil, mutant, Lord of the Brotherhood, he had many weapons. He shouted, "YOU ARE HELPLESS AGAINST MY POWER!". Instead of engaging the whole new army, he made a gesture with his hand and raised part of the mountain range in the background. He moved it on top of the Avengers until its shadow engulfed all the battlefield beneath it. For a second, impossibly, it hangs suspended in the sky. And then, it falls.

Pyro had an unexpected ability to make big leaps and proved to be quite a match for the Spiders. Eventually, he got on top of a large structure, with Spider-Man Noir and Spider-Gwen behind him. At that point, the White Queen, who was nearby, lend him a hand and knocked Spider-Man unconscious with a psi blast. Gwen managed to get him and left him on the top of the structure, as she kicked Pyro out of it. Still, noticing the advantage, Pyro managed to return to that spot, took the unconscious Spider-Man, and threw him down. Unconscious, he fell like dead weight. "Peter! NO!" She dived towards him and fired her web-shooter towards him while she fell. She managed to grab him and stick to the wall at that point, but it was not enough to prevent him from reaching the ground. She tried to wake him up, to no avail. He was not unconscious. He was dead. She kept trying to wake him up, mussing "you can't be dead, not again, I saved you, I saved you this time…". Pyro showed up then. Gwen barely cared about what he said, he was gloating and saying something about making her pay. "Wrong, Pyro, you're the creep who's going to pay! I'm going to get you, Pyro! I'm going to destroy you slowly, and when you start begging for me to end it, I'm going to remind you of one thing! You killed the man I love, and for that, you're going to die!"

Spider-Woman was no longer in the game of ballet jumps. She got to Pyro before he could escape, and crashed the devices in his hands that he used to manipulate fire. She crushed them with her superhuman strength, so intensely and so uncaring for the consequences, that she fractured his arms in the process. The White Queen tried to use her powers on her, to drop her unconscious, but it was of no use. Gwen was so driven by anger, that Frost's powers did not affect her. In fact, as she played a part in Peter's death, Spider-Woman headed to her then.

At that point, she was so angry and focused that she lead everybody else, both the Ultimates and A-Force, into the attack. Even Old Man Logan and Jimmy Hudson, who were fighting on their own, joined the group. The villains that got into the city were pushed out of it, through the ruins of the gate and into the fields. In the distance, the Avengers were dead, with the broken and shattered remains of a mountain range on top of them… or so everybody thought. First, a fist emerged from the ruins: Captain America, the manliest superhero ever, would not let a mere mountain to stop him. Beta Ray Bill, with the power of the Thors, also survived. And a repulsor blast signaled that Iron Man survived as well.

But Magneto was not an easy foe to defeat. He made a magnetic explosion, that threw everyone away from him. Captain America stood up first, walked to him without fear, and said "As long as one man stands against you, King of All Evil, you'll never be able to claim victory". Magneto crushed Iron Man inside his armor but kept the arc reactor and his arm fully functional. He fired with full force to Captain America, killing him, as he said "THEN! DIE! NOW!". All the heroes were shocked by this execution. Magneto made a new magnetic explosion before they could get past their horror and react.

Despite the forces aligned against him, the King of All Evil still stood in his prime, powerful and undefeated. And then he saw one of the Thors, Rune Thor, going towards him. Fine, another servant of God Doom, who will help him to squash this rebellion. Then he cried "Magneto!", and he noticed that he was holding a sword, and his position denoted that he was going to attack him. What kind of treason was this? No matter, he can easily take the sword from his hands with his magnetic powers and threw it away. Surprisingly, it did not work. Somehow, Rune Thor was countering his power. And the, he had no more time to figure it out: Rune Thor reached him, and stabbed him in the chest and stomach, causing a fatal wound. He could not understand. It was said that no living man in all Battleworld could kill him. Then Rune Thor removed his helmet: it was actually Jean Grey. "You killed Xavier. You killed Logan. You indirectly killed Scott. I promised myself that someday, somehow, even if it had to be in another life, you'd die for that". Yes, Jean knew that this was not the Magneto she once knew. Perhaps he never even heard those names. She did not care. It was Magneto, and he was as evil as the one she knew. Now, she thought, no matter where are her Scott, Xavier, and Logan in this weird multiverse, they can rest in peace.

But the enemy regroups, and the battle is not yet won. The hordes of Deviants, Atlanteans, and the remaining Thors were still there. Pyro, the White Queen, and the Juggernaut were still standing. They had stayed behind, to avoid the wrath of the King of All Evil, but now that he was dead, they were ready to continue the war. But suddenly, the darkness abated, and the light was restored. Not by the sun, but by a rainbow in the sky, so shiny as the sun itself. At the end of the rainbow, three figures appeared in the remaining part of the mountains. Two of them were Iron Man and Thor, that the Ultimates had missed since that battle against the Thors in the desert. As for the third one… Kitty Pryde was the first one who recognized him.

"Peter!"

Peter Parker raised his hand, and suddenly a legion of zombies appeared. They flew directly towards the heroes, who could not react in time. They thought that were having reinforcements, and it was instead more enemies. But no: the zombies ignored them all and, without a single moment of delay, continued their way towards everybody else. Atlanteans, Deviants, Thors, villains, all fell like wheat before a sickle. Within minutes, all the battlefield was cleansed of enemies. Peter reunited with the others, who were completely surprised. Only Miles Morales knew that Peter was alive before the incursions, and not even him knew that he had been transported to Battleworld as well. Spider-Gwen was visibly ashamed by it: she had lost another Peter Parker some minutes ago, and now another one appears. Too much to process. The other Spider-Woman, Jessica Drew, couldn't be happier. Still, the one who was relived the most was Kitty Pryde. Although she had come to terms with the idea that Peter loved Mary Jane and not her, she still holds feelings for him and was devastated by the loss when he died. And now he was back. She gave him the hug of a lifetime. Even with their battle won, their fate was still unclear so she kept him while she could.

She released him when the zombies returned, with the job done. "You must do it. Now." Kitty defied the Zombies and urged everybody else to stand alongside her, to prevent them from attacking Peter. Peter, however, calmly asked her to stop, that there was no problem. He saw the zombies and said "I hold your oaths fulfilled. Go. Be at peace". They smiled and turned into dust, soon removed by the breeze. Still, they all seemed satisfied and relived with their fate. Peter checked his right hand: the 666 mark, the mark that Mephisto placed in him, vanished as well.

Now it was the turn for Jessica. They once shared a hug, "the most awkward hug in the history of the planet", as she said then. Back in those days when a hug between a clone and the original was awkward. But now… they were still original and clone, but it was also a hug after a long time when she thought him dead. And a hug made after the destruction of the universe, in a patch-up world made by a crazy man with godlike powers. And a hug made outside a city of female warriors that stood against Thors and monsters of all sizes and kinds. And a hug after an army of zombies cleansed the whole battlefield, and Peter gave them peace and depart. _Now_ it was officially the most awkward hug, in the history in the multiverse!

Still, the heroes had their dead to look after. Captain Marvel. Dagger. Spider-Man Noir. The Iron Man and Captain America from the Warzone. They took them to the mountain and buried them. As for everybody else from the Warzone, they left them under the remains of the mountain for the time being. They still had to discuss their next move. The Colonel noticed that Logan brought a big stone next to Cap's grave, placed next to a big flower, and carved a text in it with his claws. "I'm not really sure I understand everything that is going on right now in here. I remember a Captain America in my past. But was he real? Was World War II, when we fought together, real? Or was it everything something made up by Doom? I don't know. That mumbo jumbo has never been my strong suit. But if this Cap if anything like my Cap… I'm sure he also liked this song"

_Una mattina mi son svegliato_

_e ho trovato l'invasor._

_O partigiano portami via_

_che mi sento di morir._

_E se io muoio da partigiano_

_tu mi devi seppellir._

_Seppellire lassù in montagna_

_sotto l'ombra di un bel fior._

_E le genti che passeranno_

_mi diranno «che bel fior.»_

_Questo è il fiore del partigiano_

_morto per la libertà_

"Bella Ciao" - Partisan song of the anti-fascist Italian resistance


	18. The Challenge

_Under an endless night, Herja and Mist_

_Opened the doors of Valhalla's reign_

_Spirits of fallen nights, swift as winds_

_From the reign of death returned to defend the..._

_Kingdom of the King of Steel_

_They'd died on battlefields_

_With swords in their hands_

_Warriors of many ages past_

Heimdall - "Warriors of Many Ages Past"

The battle in Arcadia was over, but the conflict was far from being over. The battle for Battleworld was about to begin. For a little space, they may triumph on the field, for a day. But against the power they were fighting, there is no victory. To the warrior city of Arcadia, only the first finger of his hand had yet been stretched. All the heroes knew it, and dare not delude themselves thinking otherwise. They all met in a hall to discuss their options and their next move.

Thundra: Everything dies. Warriors. Heroes. Brothers and sisters in arms. Monsters. Villains. We all live by the sword and die by the sword. This is simply how things are. What I will not tolerate, what I find unacceptable, is the unnatural acceleration of that end. Which is why I summoned you all here. First of all, let's start with the most important question: do we all agree to keep on fighting? Does anyone here want to turn tail and run to his own domain?

The Colonel: I will not. I took the Super Soldier serum to stand against tyranny, what I thought to be a tyranny, but I helped instead to establish a real and way more brutal one. I thought with the Liberators in other domains, to stop "heretics", but I finally understood what I have been doing. I have much to atone for, both for my domain and for Battleworld itself.

Spider-Gwen: All my life, I had an identity crisis, remembering only parts of my life, and having huge gaps. One of the few things I remember was the death of Peter Parker, but the details were very confusing. Then, I met a group of people with similar powers to mine. One of them was another Peter? Then Peter was back? Then a machine summons a Spider-Man and a Spider-Woman who say they are not even from Battleworld? Then I met another me? Then the new Peter is killed? Then a new Peter appears? My life is officially a train wreck, so whatever. I will stay and help.

Logan: I will fight. Where I come from, Hulk killed my wife and my sons. I offed that bastard, but discovered that he had orders to do that… orders from Doom. I don't know which was his idea. Just mess with me? Why? I'm determined to kill him or die, probably die, but I still don't understand the reasons.

Beta Ray Bill: The reason is more twisted than you would suspect. Battleworld itself is a lie. All our lives in it are a lie.

Thundra: Yes, that's what you Ultimates said when we met you. It's a wild story indeed, but…

Jean Grey: Excuse me, I was not there when you met my friends, but I can make things shorter. I have psi powers, let me share with you all the things we remember.

Like she did other times in the past, Jean links the minds of all the people in the hall. All their memories of their older life were an open book for the people of Battleworld. Beta Ray Bill, A-Force, Old Man Logan, the Colonel, Spider-Gwen, and her friends, they all saw everything and understood it all. They saw the mind of Peter Parker, how he gained superpowers at a time almost nobody else did in his world, the death of his uncle Ben that forced him to understand that "with great power comes great responsibility", how he struggled against Norman Osborn, the Kingpin and several other villains while trying to protect his secret identity, the time that Octavius made many clones of him, and when he took a bullet aimed for Captain America and died saving his family from the Sinister Six. And also his surprise when he woke up and discovered that he had not died. They also saw when Miles Morales was bitten by another modified spider and gained similar powers, that he initially did nothing with them, when he heard that Peter was killed and learned the same lesson in another way, and his struggle to be accepted in this identity. Many of them already knew his secret identity but others didn't, but at this moment that was the least of their concerns. They also saw the minds of Kitty Pryde, Storm, Jimmy Hudson, and Rogue, how they all discovered that they were mutants, the conflicts between the X-Men, the Brotherhood, and several anti-mutant humans, and the time that Magneto wrecked the world in his pursuit of vengeance. They also saw the minds of Hawkeye, Iron Man, and Thor, how Nick Fury formed the Ultimates to protect the world from all those arising threats, and how the team was disbanded after the coming of Galactus. They also saw the minds of Spider-Woman and Bombshell, who made a new Ultimates team when the first one disbanded. They also saw the mind of Sue Storm, who took part in an experiment with her brother, her boyfriend and his friend, how they became the Fantastic Four, and how Reed Richards turned into the Maker, a villain that surpassed even Magneto. They also saw, in the minds of many, the arrival of Gah Lak Tus, and the Vision, the android that warned worlds about it.

And they also saw the nature of Battleworld. They saw Sue and Stark finding out about the incursions, the retrieval of Vision from the timestream, Peter Parker defying Mephisto, and the last incursion. And their arrival in Battleworld, the Thors attacking them, how they were all dispersed across domains, and how they all found back their ways into the battle in Arcadia.

All of them, but two. Vision and Nick Fury.

Thundra: That was… quite a lot to digest. Yes, we can see your plight, but we still must focus on the here and now. Hardly has our strength sufficed to beat off the first great assault. The next will be greater. This war is without final hope. Victory can not be achieved by arms, whether we sit here to endure siege after siege, or march out to be overwhelmed somewhere else. Your Nick Fury is still out there, seeking the secrets of Sherriff Strange, but what could he possibly find? God Doom has absolutely no weaknesses. He is God.

Peter Parker: He is not God. There is only one God. Doom is a man with great powers. Nothing less, but nothing more.

Rogue: I agree. This is not the place for a religious discussion, but yes, he's not God!

Beta Ray Bill: As for weaknesses… actually, he does have one. He has no omniscience. He does not know all that happens everywhere at the same time. That's why he had the services of Sheriff Strange and the Thors. He probably knows about our victory here, but not about the specifics of our discussion right now. And although he knew about the landing of your ship, I'm not sure if he knows about the presence of survivors of the Multiverse in Battleworld. But that robot that is with Fury, the Vision, does have something very similar to it. If Dooms captures her, takes his powers for himself and amplifies them, he would have omniscience… or something really close to it, anyway.

Bombshell: But what can we do to help or protect them? Jean left them, now we have no idea where are they.

Beta Ray Bill: Verily, Sheriff Strange did not share all his secrets with us. I have no knowledge of this secret lair of his.

Jessica Jones: Screw it, then. If we know nothing of that search or how to locate this Nick Fury, then it's pointless to us. It does not change this shit we are in: either die fighting Doom, or die here after some time.

Beta Ray Bill: Not completely: We ignore the secrets of Strange, but we still have common sense. If he had something, and he kept it secret, it has to be something big.

Thundra: But Jones is right. Fury is not here, and his search is beyond our help. Doom's doubt will be growing, even as we speak here. His attention is now straining towards us, blind to almost all else that is moving. Se we must keep it. Therein lies all our hope. We cannot achieve victory by arms, but by arms we can give Fury his only chance, frail though it be. We must walk open-eyed into Doomstadt, with courage, but small hope for ourselves. For it may well prove that we ourselves shall perish utterly in a black battle far from our lands; so that even if Doom's Castle fell down, we shall not live to see a new age. But this, I deem, is our duty. And better so than to perish nonetheless, as we surely shall, if we sit here and know as we die that no new age shall be.

They were silent for a while. Old Man Logan spoke first. "He has gone unchallenged long enough. I promised, for Maureen, that I would kill that bastard, even if it is the last thing I do in my life. And I will not walk away from the chance to do so. I knew that things would eventually get down to this, the very moment that Baron Strucker voiced the name of Doom in the Wastelands. I won't pretend I'm not afraid, but I will fight nonetheless." This gave the push everyone needed. Logan wanted vengeance for his wife. The Ultimates wanted to restore their world. A-Force wanted vengeance for America Chavez and Captain Marvel. The Colonel wanted to atone for his former evil actions. Spider-Woman wanted to fight the architect of the world that gave her so much loneliness and misery. They all agreed to do it. Thor and Beta Ray Bill created a portal to Doomstadt, to stand against God Doom.

By moonlight they ride, ten thousand side by side.

With swords drawn held high their whips and armor shine.

Hail to thee, their infantry, still brave beyond the grave

All sworn the eternal vow: the time to strike is now!

Gone are the days when freedom shone, now blood and steel meet bone

In the light of the battle's way the sands of time will shake

How proud their soldiers stand with mace and chain in hand

Sound of charge, into glory ride, over the top of the vanquished pride

Onward into the heart of the battle

Fought the sons of Odin

Outnumbered many times

Still, they fought on

Blood poured forth from their wounds

Deep into the earth

Vultures waited for the broken shells

That once were bodies

But Odin alone would choose the day

They would enter Valhalla

Manowar - "Sons of Odin"

**TO BE CONCLUDED...**


End file.
